CONVERSATION. 



CONVERSATION; 

ITS FAULTS 

AND 

ITS GRACES. 




COMPILED BY 



ANDREW P. PEABODY. 




BOSTON AND CAMBRIDGE : 
JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. 

M DCCC LVI. 



* XL* 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 
James Munrob and Company, 
' In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



CAMBRIDGE I 
THURSTON AND TORRT, PRINTERS. 



DEDICATED 

TO 

AMERICAN TEACHERS. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The Compiler has attempted to bring together in 
this little volume the principles which should govern 
conversation among persons of true refinement of 
mind and character, and to point out some of the 
most common and easily besetting vulgarisms occur- 
ring in the colloquial English of our country and day. 
Part I. is an Address delivered before a Young Ladies' 
School, in Newburyport. Part II. is a Lecture ad- 
dressed to the Literary, Scientific and Mechanics 1 
Institution at Reading, England. Part III. is a re- 
print from the fourth English edition of " A Word to 
the Wise, or Hints on the Current Improprieties of 
Expression in Writing and Speaking," by Parry 
Gwynne, a few passages not applicable to the habits 
of American society being omitted. Part IV. is com- 



viii 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



posed of selections from two little English books, 
entitled, " Never too late to Learn : Mistakes of daily 
occurrence in Speaking, Writing and Pronunciation 
corrected ; " and " Common Blunders in Speaking 
and Writing." 



PART I. 



AN ADDRESS 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

NEWBURYPORT FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL, 

DECEMBER 19, 1846, 

BY ANDREW P. PEABODY. 

\ 



Young Ladies, 

You have made me happy by your kind invitation 
to meet you, and to address you on this anniver- 
sary. A day spent in this room at your annual 
examination, nearly two years ago, was a season of 
privilege and enjoyment not readily to be forgotten. 
I had previously entertained a high regard for your 
instructor. I then learned to know him by his work ; 
and, were he not here, I should be glad to extend 
beyond a single sentence my congratulations with you 
that you are his pupils. 

I have said that I accepted your invitation with 
1 



2 



peabody's address. 



gladness. Yet, in preparing myself to meet you, I 
find a degree of embarrassment. This is for you a 
season of recreation, — a high festival; and I am 
accustomed to use my pen and voice only on grave 
occasions, and for solemn services. I know not how 
to add to your amusement. Should I undertake to 
make sport for you, my awkwardness would give you 
more mirth than my wit. The best that I can do is to 
select some subject that is or ought to be interesting 
to you, and to endeavor to blend a little instruction 
with the gayer and more lively notes of the occasion. 
The lesson shall be neither tediously long nor need- 
lessly grave. 

I propose to offer you a few hints on conversation. 
How large a portion of life does it fill up ! How 
innumerable are its ministries and its uses ! It is the 
most refined species of recreation, — the most spark- 
ling source of merriment. It interweaves with a 
never-resting shuttle the bonds of domestic sympathy. 
It fastens the ties of friendship, and runs along the 
golden links of the chain of love. It enriches charity, 
and makes the gift twice blessed. There is, perhaps, 
a peculiar appropriateness in the selection of this 
topic for an address to young ladies ; for they do 
more than any other class in the community towards 
establishing the general tone and standard of social 
intercourse. The voices of many of you already, I 
doubt not, strike the key-note of home conversation ; 
and you are fast approaching an age when you will 



peabody's address. 



3 



take prominent places in general society ; will be the 
objects of peculiar regard ; and will, in a great measure, 
determine whether the social converse in your respec- 
tive circles shall be vulgar or refined, censorious or 
kindly, frivolous or dignified. It was said by a wise 
man of antiquity, — " Only give me the making of 
songs for the people, and I care not who makes the 
laws." In our unmusical age and land, talking occu- 
pies the place which songs did among the melody- 
loving Greeks ; and he who could tune the many- 
voiced harp of the social party, need crave no higher 
office or more potent sway. 

Permit me now to enumerate some of the char- 
acteristics of graceful, elegant, and profitable conver- 
sation, commencing with the lower graces, and passing 
on to the higher. 

Let me first beg you, if you would be good talkers, 
to form and fix now, (for you can do this only now,) 
habits of correct and easy pronunciation. The words 
which you now miscall, it will cost you great pains in 
after life to pronounce aright, and you will always be 
in danger of returning inadvertently to your old pro- 
nunciation. There are two extremes which you ought 
equally to shun. One is that of carelessness ; the 
other, that of extreme precision, as if the sound of the 
words uttered were constantly uppermost in the mind. 
This last fault always suggests the idea of vanity and 
pedantry, and is of itself enough to add a deep indigo 
hue to a young lady's reputation. 



4 



peabody's address. 



One great fault of New England pronunciation is, 
that the work is performed too much by the outer 
organs of speech. The tones of the voice have but 
little depth. Instead of a generous play of the throat 
and lungs, the throat almost closes, and the voice 
seems to be formed in the mouth. It is this that 
gives what is called a nasal tone to the voice, which, 
when denied free range through its lawful avenues, 
rushes in part through the nose. We notice the nasal 
pronunciation in excess here and there in an indi- 
vidual, while Englishmen and Southerners observe it 
as a prevailing characteristic of all classes of people 
in the Northern States. Southerners in general are 
much less careful and accurate in pronunciation than 
we are ; but they more than compensate for this 
deficiency by the full, round tones in which they utter 
themselves. In our superficial use of the organs of 
speech, there are some consonants which we are 
prone to omit altogether. This is especially the case 
with g in words that end with ing. Nine persons out 
of ten say singin instead of singing. I know some 
public speakers, and many private ones, who never 
pronounce the t in such words as object and prospect. 
Very few persons give the right sound to r final. 
Far is generally pronounced as if it were written fall. 
Now, I would not have the full Hibernian roll of the 
r ; but I would have the presence of the letter more 
distinctly recognized, than it often is, even by persons 
of refined and fastidious taste. 



peabody's address. 



5 



Let me next beg you to shun all the ungrammatical 
vulgarisms which are often heard, but which never 
fail to grate harshly on a well-tuned ear. If you 
permit yourselves to use them now, you will never 
get rid of them. I know a venerable and accom- 
plished lawyer, who has stood at the head of his 
profession in this State, and has moved in the most 
refined society for half a century, who to this day 
says haint for has not, having acquired the habit 
when a schoolboy. I have known persons who have 
for years tried unsuccessfully to break themselves of 
saying done for did, and you and I for you and me. 
Many well-educated persons, through the power of 
long habit, persist in saying shew for showed, while 
they know perfectly well that they might, with equal 
propriety, substitute snew for snowed ; and there is 
not far hence a clergyman, marvellously precise and 
fastidious in his choice of words, who is very apt to 
commence his sermon by saying, " I shew you in a 
recent discourse." A false delicacy has very generally 
introduced drank as the perfect participle of drink, 
instead of drunk, which alone has any respectable 
authority in its favor ; and the imperfect tense and 
perfect participle have been similarly confounded in 
many other cases. I know not what grammar you 
use in this school. I trust that it is an old one ; for 
some of the new grammars sanction these vulgarisms, 
and in looking over their tables of irregular verbs, I 
have sometimes half expected to have the book dashed 



6 



peabody's address. 



from my hand by the indignant ghost of Lindley 
Murray. Great care and discretion should be em- 
ployed in the use of the common abbreviations of the 
negative forms of the substantive and auxiliary verbs. 
Can't, don't, and havn't, are admissible in rapid con- 
versation on trivial subjects. Isn't and hasn't are 
more harsh, yet tolerated by respectable usage. Did- 
n't, couldn't, wouldn't, and shouldn't, make as un- 
pleasant combinations of consonants as can well be 
uttered, and fall short but by one remove of those 
unutterable names of Polish gentlemen which some- 
times excite our wonder in the columns of a news- 
paper. Won't for will not, and aint for is not or are 
not, are absolutely vulgar ; and aint, for has not or 
have not, is utterly intolerable. 

Nearly akin to these offences against good gram- 
mar is another untasteful practice, into which you are 
probably more in danger of falling, and which is a 
crying sin among young ladies, — I mean the use of 
exaggerated, extravagant forms of speech, — saying 
splendid for pretty, magnificent for handsome, horrid 
for very, horrible for unpleasant, immense for large, 
thousands or myriads for any number greater than two. 
Were I to write down, for one day, the conversation 
of some young ladies of my acquaintance, and then to 
interpret it literally, it would imply that, within the 
compass of twelve or fourteen hours, they had met 
with more marvellous adventures and hair-breadth 
escapes, had passed through more distressing experi- 



peabody's address. 



7 



ences, had seen more imposing spectacles, had en- 
dured more fright, and enjoyed more rapture, than 
would suffice for half a dozen common lives. This 
habit is attended with many inconveniences. It de- 
prives you of the intelligible use of strong expressions 
when you need them. If you use them all the time, 
nobody understands or believes you when you use 
them in earnest. You are in the same predicament 
with the boy who cried wolf so often, when there 
was no wolf, that nobody would go to his relief when 
the wolf came. This habit has also a very bad 
moral bearing. Our words have a reflex influence 
upon our characters. Exaggerated speech makes 
one careless of the truth. The habit of using words 
without regard to their rightful meaning, often leads 
one to distort facts, to misreport conversations, and to 
magnify statements, in matters in which the literal 
truth is important to be told. You can never trust 
the testimony of one who in common conversation is 
indifferent to the import, and regardless of the power, 
of words. I am acquainted with persons whose rep- 
resentations of facts always need translation and cor- 
rection, and who have utterly lost their reputation for 
veracity, solely through this habit of overstrained and 
extravagant speech. They do not mean to lie ; but 
they have a dialect of their own, in which words bear 
an entirely different sense from that given to them in 
the daily intercourse of discreet and sober people. 
In this connection, it may not be amiss to notice a 



8 



peabody's address. 



certain class of phrases, often employed to fill out 
and dilute sentences, such as, Tm sure, — 1 declare, 
— That's a fact, — You know, — I want to know, — 
Did you ever J — Well ! I never, — and the like. 
All these forms of speech disfigure conversation, 
weaken the force of the assertions or statements with 
which they are connected, and give unfavorable im- 
pressions as to the good breeding of the person that 
uses them. 

You will be surprised, young ladies, to hear me 
add to these counsels, — u Above all things, swear 
not at all." Yet there is a great deal of swearing 
among those who would shudder at the very thought 
of being profane. The Jews, who were afraid to use 
the most sacred names in common speech, were 
accustomed to swear by the temple, by the altar, and 
by their own heads ; and these oaths were rebuked 
and forbidden by divine authority. I know not why 
the rebuke and prohibition apply not with full force to 
the numerous oaths by goodness, faith, patience, and 
mercy, which we hear from lips that mean to be 
neither coarse nor irreverent, in the schoolroom, street, 
and parlor ; and a moment's reflection will convince 
any well-disposed person, that, in the exclamation 
Lor, the cutting off of a single letter from a conse- 
crated word can hardly save one from the censure 
and the penalty written in the third commandment. 
I do not regard these expressions as harmless. I be- 
lieve them inconsistent with Christian laws of speech. 



peabody's address. 



9 



Nor do they accord with the simple, quiet habit of 
mind and tone of feeling which are the most favor- 
able to happiness and usefulness, and which sit as 
gracefully on gay and buoyant youth as on the sedate- 
ness of maturer years. The frame of mind in which 
a young lady says, in reply to a question, Mercy ! no, 
is very different from that which prompts the simple, 
modest no. Were there any room for doubt, I should 
have some doubt of the truth of the former answer ; 
for the unnatural, excited, fluttered state of mind im- 
plied in the use of the oath, might indicate either an 
unfitness to weigh the truth, or an unwillingness to 
acknowledge it. 

In fine, transparency is an essential attribute of all 
graceful and becoming speech. Language ought to 
represent the speaker's ideas, and neither more nor 
less. Exclamations, needless expletives, unmeaning 
extravagances, are as untasteful as the streamers of 
tattered finery which you sometimes see fluttering 
about the person of a dilapidated belle. Let your 
thoughts be as strong, as witty, as brilliant, as you 
can make them ; but never seek to atone for feeble 
thought by large words, or to rig out foolish conceits 
in the spangled robe of genuine wit. Speak as you 
think and feel ; and let the tongue always be an honest 
interpreter to the heart. 

But it is time that we passed to higher consider- 
ations. There are great laws of duty and religion 
which should govern our conversation ; and the divine 



10 



peabody's address. 



Teacher assures us that even for our idle words we 
are accountable to Him who has given us the power 
of speech. Now, I by no means believe that there is 
any principle of our religion which frowns upon wit 
or merriment, or forbids playful speech at fit seasons 
and within due limits. The very fact that the Al- 
mighty has created the muscles which produce the 
smile and the laugh, is a perpetual rebuke to those 
who would call all laughter madness, and all mirth 
folly. Amusement, in its time and place, is a great 
good ; and I know of no amusement so refined, so 
worthy an intellectual being, as that conversation 
which is witty and still kind, playful, yet always rev- 
erent, which recreates from toil and care, but leaves 
no sting, and violates no principle of brotherly love or 
religious duty. 

Evil speaking, slander, detraction, gossip, scandal, 
are different names for one of the chief dangers to be 
guarded against in conversation ; and you are doing 
much towards defending yourselves against it by the 
generous mental culture which you enjoy in this semi- 
nary. The demon of slander loves an empty house. 
A taste for scandal betrays a vacant mind. Furnish 
your minds, then, by useful reading and study, and 
by habits of reflection and mental industry, that you 
may be able to talk about subjects as well as about 
people, — about events too long past or too remote to 
be interwoven with slander. But, if you must talk 
about people, why not about their good traits and 



peabody's address. 



11 



deeds ? The truest ingenuity is that which brings 
hidden excellences to light; for virtue is in her very- 
nature modest and retiring, while faults lie on the sur- 
face and are detected with half an eye. 

You will undoubtedly be careful to have your words 
always just and kind, if you will only take a suf- 
ficiently thorough view of the influence of your habits 
of conversation, both in the formation of your own 
characters and in determining the happiness of others* 
But how low an estimate do many of us make of the 
power of the tongue ! How little account we are apt 
to take of our words ! Have we not all at times said 
to ourselves, " Oh ! it is only a word ! " when it may 
have been sharp as a drawn sword, have given more 
pain than a score of blows, and done more harm than 
our hands could have wrought in a month ? Why is 
it that the slanderer and the tale-bearer regard them- 
selves as honest and worthy people, instead of feeling 
that they are accursed of God and man ? It is because 
they deal in evil words only, and they consider words 
as mere nought. Why is it that the carping tongue, 
which filches a little from everybody's good name, 
can hardly utter itself without a sneer, and makes 
every fair character its prey, thinks better of itself 
than a petty pilferer would ? It is because by long, 
though baseless prescription, the tongue has claimed 
for itself a license denied to every other member and 
faculty. 

But, in point of fact, your words not only express, 



12 



peabody's address. 



but help create, your characters. Speech gives 
definiteness and permanence to your thoughts and 
feelings. The unuttered thought may fade from the 
memory, — maybe chased away by better thoughts, 
— may, indeed, hardly be a part of your own mind ; 
for, if suggested from without, and met without a wel- 
come, and with disapproval and resistance, it is not 
yours. But by speech you adopt thoughts, and the 
voice that utters them is as a pen that engraves them 
indelibly on the soul. If you can suppress unkind 
thoughts, so that, when they rise in your breast, and 
mount to your very lips, you leave them unuttered, 
you are not on the whole unkind, — your better nature 
has the supremacy. But if these wrong feelings 
often find utterance, though you call it hasty utter- 
ance, there is reason to fear that they flow from a 
bitter fountain within. 

Consider, also, how large a portion speech makes up 
of the lives of all. It occupies the greater part of the 
waking hours of many of us ; while express acts of a 
moral bearing, compared with our words, are rare 
and few. Indeed, in many departments of duty, 
words are our only possible deeds, — - it is by words 
alone that we can perform or violate our duty. Many 
of the most important forms of charity are those of 
speech. Alms-giving is almost the only expression of 
charity of which the voice is not the chief minister ; 
and alms, conferred in silent coldness, or with chiding 
or disdainful speech, freeze the spirit, though they 



peabody's address. 



13 



may warm the body. Speech, too, is the sole medium 
of a countless host of domestic duties and observances. 
There are, indeed, in every community many whose 
only activity seems to be in words. There are many 
young ladies, released from the restraints of school, 
and many older ladies, with few or no domestic bur- 
dens, with no worldly avocation and no taste for read- 
ing, whose whole waking life, either at their own 
homes or from house to house, is given to the exer- 
cise, for good or evil, of the tongue, — that unruly 
member. And how blessed might they make that 
exercise, — for how many holy ministries of love, 
sympathy, and charity might it suffice, — how many 
wounds might it prevent or heal, — did they only 
believe and feel that they were writing out their own 
characters in their daily speech! But too many of 
them forget this. So long as they do not knowingly 
and absolutely lie, they feel no responsibility for their 
words. They deem themselves virtuous, because 
they refrain from vices to which they have not the 
shadow of a temptation ; but carp, backbite, and carry 
ill reports from house to house, with an apostle's zeal 
and a martyr's devotedness. To say nothing of the 
social effect of such a life, is not the tongue thus 
employed working out spiritual death for the soul in 
whose service it is busy ? I know of no images too 
vile to portray such a character. The dissection of a 
slanderer's or talebearer's heart would present the 
most loathsome specimen of morbid anatomy con- 



14 



peabody's address. 



ceivable. It is full of the most malignant poison. 
Its life is all mean, low, serpent-like, — a life that 
cannot bear the light, but finds all its nourishment and 
growth in darkness. Were these foul and odious 
forms of speech incapable of harming others, — did 
human reptiles of this class creep about in some out- 
ward guise, in which they could be recognized by all, 
and their words be taken for what they are worth, 
and no more, — still I would beg them, for their own 
sakes, not to degrade God's image, in which they 
were created, into the likeness of a creeping thing; I 
would entreat them not to be guilty of the meanest 
and most miserable of all forms of spiritual suicide ; I 
would beseech them, if they are determined to sell 
their souls, to get some better price for them than the 
scorn and dread of all whose esteem is worth having. 

In this connection, we ought to take into account 
the very large class of literally idle words. How 
many talk on unthinkingly and heedlessly, as if the 
swift exercise of the organs of speech were the great 
end of life ! The most trivial news of the day, the 
concerns of the neighborhood, the floating gossip, 
whether good-natured or malignant, dress, food, frivol- 
ous surmises, paltry plans, vanities too light to remain 
an hour upon the memory, — these are the sole staple 
of what too many call conversation ; and many are 
the young people who are training themselves in the 
use of speech for no higher or better purpose. But 
such persons have the threatened judgment visibly 



peabody's address. 



15 



following their idle speech. Their minds grow super- 
ficial and shallow. They constantly lose ground, if 
they ever had any, as intellectual and moral beings. 
Such speech makes a person, of however genteel 
training, coarse and vulgar, and that not only in char- 
acter, but even in voice and manners, and with sad 
frequency it obliterates traits of rich loveliness and 
promise. The merely idle tongue is also very readily 
betrayed into overt guilt. One cannot indulge in 
idle, reckless talk, without being implicated in all the 
current slander and calumny, and acquiring gradually 
the envious and malignant traits of a hackneyed tale- 
bearer. And the person who, in youth, can attract 
the attention and win the favor of those of little reflec- 
tion by flippant and voluble discourse, will encounter 
in the very same circles neglect, disesteem, and dis- 
like, before the meridian of life is passed ; for it takes 
all the charms that youth, sprightliness, and high ani- 
mal spirits can furnish, to make an idle tongue fasci- 
nating or even endurable. 

Let me ask you now to consider for a moment the 
influence which we exert in conversation upon the 
happiness or misery of others. It is not too much to 
say, that most of us do more good or harm in this 
way than in all other forms beside. Look around 
you, — take a survey of whatever there is of social or 
domestic unhappiness in the families to which you 
belong, or among your kindred and acquaintance. 
Nine tenths of it can be traced to no other cause than 



16 



peabody's address. 



untrue, unkind, or ungoverned speech. A mere harsh 
word, repented of the next moment, — how great a 
fire can it kindle ! The carrying back and forth of 
an idle tale, not worth an hour's thought, will often 
break up the closest intimacies. From every slander- 
ous tongue you may trace numerous rills of bitterness, 
winding round from house to house, and separating 
those who ought to be united in the closest friendship. 
Could persons, who, with kind hearts, are yet hasty 
in speech, number up, at the close of a day, the feel- 
ings that they had wounded, and the uncomfortable 
sensations that they had caused, they would need no 
other motive to study suavity of manner, and to seek 
for their words the rich unction of a truly charitable 
spirit. Then, too, how many are the traits of sus- 
picion, jealousy, and heart-burning, which go forth 
from every day's merely idle words, vain and vague 
surmises, uncharitable inferences and conjectures ! 

These thoughts point to the necessity of religion as 
the guiding, controlling element in conversation. All 
conversation ought to be religious. Not that I would 
have persons always talking on what are commonly 
called religious subjects. Let these be talked of at 
fitting times and places, but never obtrusively brought 
forward or thrust in. But cannot common subjects be 
talked of religiously ? Cannot we converse about our 
plans, our amusements, our reading, nay, and our 
neighbors too, and no sacred name be introduced, and 
yet the conversation be strictly religious ? Yes, — if 



peabody's address. 



17 



throughout the conversation we own the laws of hon- 
esty, frankness, kind construction, and sincere benev- 
olence, — if our speech be pure, true, gentle, dignified, 
— if it seek or impart information that either party 
needs, — if it cherish friendly feeling, — if it give us 
kinder affections towards others, — if it bring our 
minds into vigorous exercise, — nay, if it barely amuse 
us, but not too long, and if the wit be free from coarse- 
ness and at no one's expense. But we should ever 
bear it in mind, that our words are all uttered in the 
hearing of an unseen Listener and Judge. Could we 
keep this in remembrance, there would be little in our 
speech that need give us shame or pain. But that 
half hour spent in holding up to ridicule one who has 
done you no harm, — that breathless haste to tell the 
last piece of slander, — you would not want to re- 
member in your evening prayer. From the flippant, 
irresponsible, wasteful gossip, in which so much time 
is daily lost, you could not with a safe conscience 
look up and own an Almighty presence. 

Young ladies, my subject is a large one, and 
branches out into so many heads, that, were I to say 
all that I should be glad to say, the setting sun would 
stop me midway. But it is time for me to relieve 
your patience. Accept, with these fragmentary hints, 
my cordial congratulations and good wishes. Life 
now smiles before you, and beckons you onward. 
Heaven grant that your coming days may be even 
happier than you hope ! To make them so is within 
2 



18 



peabody's address. 



your own power. They will not be cloudless. If 
you live long, disappointments and sorrows must 
come. There will be steep and rough passages in 
the way of life. But there is a Guide, in whose foot- 
prints you may climb the steep places without weari- 
ness, and tread the rough ground without stumbling. 
Add to your mental culture faith in Him, and the self- 
consecration of the Christian heart. Then even trials 
will make you happier. When clouds are over your 
way, rays from Heaven will struggle through their 
fissures, and fringe their edges. Your path will be 
onward and upward, ever easier, ever brighter. On 
that path may your early footsteps be planted, that 
the beautiful bloom of your youth may not wither and 
perish, but may ripen for a heavenly harvest ! 



PART II. 



A LECTURE 

DELIVERED AT READING, ENGLAND, DECEMBER 19, 1854, 



FRANCIS TRENCH. 



A LECTURE 



DELIVERED AT HEADING, ENGLAND, DECEMBER 19, 1854, 

BY FRANCIS TRENCH. 



We are all of us more or less apt to overlook that 
which is continually going on around us. We omit 
to make it a matter of inquiry, and reserve our atten- 
tion for that which is more rare, although of far less 
importance. What is it, for instance, which, after a 
course of long, sultry heat, — when the sun, day by 
day, has blazed in the sky above, — what is it, I ask, 
which has still preserved the verdure and freshness of 
all vegetable life ? Surely it has been nothing else 
than the dew of heaven, gently, regularly, plenteously 
falling, as each evening closed in. Nevertheless, 
how little is it thought of, — how little are its benefits 
acknowledged ! But when the clouds gather speedily 
and darkly, and perhaps unexpectedly, when the sense 
of coolness spreads once more through the parched 



22 



trench's lecture. 



atmosphere, when abundance of rain all at once de- 
scends, then all observe the change, all notice the 
beneficial results ; yet perhaps they are trifling indeed 
compared with those of the nightly and forgotten dew, 
which has never ceased to fall, week by week, or 
even month by month, during the course of the 
drought. I feel no doubt that it will be acknowledged 
how it is the same, the very same, in all things calling 
for our observation. So, therefore, it is regarding 
conversation, as a thing of every day. We flock to 
hear and admire some mighty orator's address, but 
we think little of and little appreciate that daily, hourly 
thing which is our subject now, — I mean conver- 
sation. But I leave you to judge which has the most 
effect on our general interest, as social creatures, — 
Which, in the long run, has most to do with the pleasure 
and the profit of all human intercourse. 

Having made this claim on your attention, I would 
now observe that the subject is one of so wide a scope 
that I can do little more than present you with a few 
thoughts, which I have noted down as they have risen 
to my own mind, upon it. And I trust that they will 
prove not entirely unacceptable, though well indeed 
aware that the topic is one to which it must be very 
difficult indeed to do any justice. 

But I must first try to meet one objection, for which 
I am quite prepared, namely, that conversation is not 
a fit subject for a lecture at all, but should be con- 
sidered as too independent and free to have any 



trench's lecture. 



23 



rules, principles, or guidance applied to it. This, 
however, is indeed a fallacy, and may briefly be ex- 
posed by a few such questions as those I am about to 
ask. What should be more free than the sword of 
the soldier in the battle-day ? — than the pencil of the 
artist at the mountain side ? — or than the poet's song 
in its upward flight ? Yet who would condemn the 
use of the drill, or the study of perspective, or the 
rules of poetic art ? No less untenable is it to main- 
tain that conversation can be subject to no principle, 
rule, or review, without checking its free and unfet- 
tered range. Cowper has simply summed up the 
whole truth : — 

".Though conversation in its better part 
May be esteemed a gift, and not an art ; 
Yet ranch depends, as in the tiller's toil, 
On culture and the sowing of the soil." 

Nor shall I venture to suggest any measures which 
I do not believe already well sanctioned, well honored, 
and well practised too, even by many who have never 
yet thought of classifying them at all. But these I 
shall freely give, as my duty is, at your summons this 
night. 

Conversation may be termed or defined as " the 
exchange and communication, by word, of that which 
is passing in the inward mind and heart." And none 
of all known creatures, except man, has this peculiar 
gift. The animal tribes approach us and even surpass 



24 



trench's lecture. 



us in many of their physical powers and capacities. 
As to their capacities in the five senses of the body, I 
conceive that, generally speaking, it is so ; but none 
of them converse, like man, in expressive words, how- 
ever they may and do comprehend one another through 
inferior means. Homer has therefore defined our 
race as " word-dividing men." And surely such a 
capacity or power is not bestowed on us unaccom- 
panied by an obligation and a claim to give due 
diligence how we do and how we may employ it. 
Never to act thus is surely an undue disregard of our 
endowment, — a virtual depreciation and contempt of 
that which is at once among the most needful, the 
most useful, and, at the same time, most ornamental 
gifts of God to mankind. 

As, then, it is said of real wisdom, that first " it is 
pure," or free from error and wrong, so too, first of 
all, right and proper conversation must be free from 
everything evidently and positively inconsistent with 
our duty towards God and man. It has ever been 
well said that we must be just before we are generous. 
The one attribute is essential and indispensable in 
every transaction of life. The acts and deeds con- 
nected with the other are comparatively undefined 
and indefinable. So it is essential, it is indispensable, 
that our conversation, from our own choice and delib- 
erate aim, should be utterly free from all things 
irreverent to God and injurious to our fellow-crea- 
tures. God's name must never be taken in vain. 



trench's lecture. 



25 



God's Word, and divine things generally, must never 
be treated with any levity. No sentence must come 
forth from our lips having any tendency to undermine 
or subvert the principles and practices of true religion. 
These are among the mere dues and obligations to 
Him who gives us the faculty of speech, and enables 
us to interchange conversation with our fellows ; and, 
beyond all doubt, hour after hour of silence and 
reserve would be infinitely better — more to be desired 
by any Christian — than the most entertaining and 
most captivating talk of a witty but unprincipled man. 
And so too, exactly, with regard to our fellow-crea- 
tures. They too have an absolute claim on us, that 
we should resolutely keep to the grand rule of speak- 
ing to them only such things as will do them no hurt, 
— no hurt to their minds, no hurt to their feelings, no 
hurt to their best and true and everlasting interest. 
As the words of one lead many to heaven and joy, so 
too the words of another lead many to hell and woe. 
Better, again I say, would it be for you to be silent as 
a dumb man than to indulge carelessly and wickedly 
in any such utterances. He who does it is a cruel 
enemy of his fellow-creatures, however popular, how- 
ever able and attractive he may be. 

Thus much with regard to conversation — on the 
negative side. Thus much as to that nature and 
character of which it must not be, under any circum- 
stances. And, having no intention to make my present 
address in any degree of that more solemn and abso- 



26 



trench's lecture. 



lutely serious kind, which it is my privilege so often 
to employ in my profession, I will only add here that, 
having now seen what it is essential and indispensable 
for us to shun in conversation, so again, to aim at 
pleasing God and serving our fellow-creatures is not 
less needful, — not less essential, as the one grand 
object and scope with which at all* times we should 
use and interchange it. I am sure you will all admit 
that I could not rightly proceed without laying down 
this broad, this sure foundation. On it we may build 
the lighter superstructure ; but, without laying it down, 
I could not conscientiously proceed. Nay, farther, I 
feel equally convinced that many would perceive at 
once the deficiency, and regret it too, were I to adopt 
any other course. Conversation, to be worthy of the 
name at all, is not child's play. It must be dealt 
with, if considered at all, as an important and sub- 
stantial thing, not as the mere toy wherewith to trifle 
and sport each day and hour till we pass away to 
meet that judgment where our Lord has himself de- 
clared, — " By your words ye shall be justified, and 
by your words ye shall be condemned." 

The subject may now branch out into many and 
various directions. To make a choice is the only 
difficulty. One of these may lead us to notice that, 
in all conversation, special attention should ever be 
paid to the feelings of all present. Every subject 
should be studiously avoided likely to give needless 
pain, and perhaps, as it were, open the sluice-gate 



trench's lecture. 



27 



through which other observations might more plenti- 
fully flow in from others of the company, painful to 
one or more in the circle. Nothing, of course, will 
teach this so much as true kindness and true sym- 
pathy of heart ; and, if this be wanting, offences of 
this kind will continually abound, — yes, I am sorry 
to say, will sometimes be studiously and intentionally 
committed. But even the most loving and most kindly 
spirit will do well to be very watchful on this point, 
seeking to exercise all judgment and tact in the 
matter ; and even beyond this a beautiful art is some- 
times to be witnessed, — happy indeed are they who 
possess it, — which turns and leads away the general 
strain of talk, and that often with unperceived skill, 
when approaching dangerous ground, or perhaps 
already beginning to grieve or disturb another. 

Among injurious practices in talk, the following 
may perhaps be enumerated : — an overbearing vehe- 
mence, challenging assertions, cold indifference to the 
statements of others, a love of argumentation, an in- 
clination to regard fair liberty of mutual address as 
undue license, pressure on another to express more 
than he desires, all personalities which would be for- 
bidden by the royal law of speaking unto others as 
you would like to be spoken to yourself. These and 
many more transgressions, in our address one to an- 
other, are not only of a grave, but also of a very 
evident kind, and therefore on them, perhaps, there is 
less need to dwell. 



28 



trench's lecture. 



Others are more subtle, — more elude the grasp of 
ordinary observation. All social life, and even all 
family life, if rightly carried on, requires not only 
mutual forbearance in talk, but mutual sympathy too, 
mutual encouragement one from the other. In families 
and in society we find the old, the young ; the busy 
and those comparatively unemployed ; the studious or 
the literary, and those whose tastes are completely 
different ; people occupied in various professions and 
trades ; politicians and statesmen ; soldiers and sailors ; 
young men and women reared up at home, with young 
men and women reared up at schools and public insti- 
tutions ; travellers acquainted with divers parts of the 
globe, and those who never have quitted their own 
land ; men of the city and men of the field ; — in a 
word, persons and characters almost as various in the 
aspect of their inward taste as the very features which 
each countenance wears, — for I may venture to say 
that no two persons think or feel exactly and altogether 
alike. Now, whenever there is such a thing as opinion, 
and whenever there is such a thing as feeling (which 
is the case in all members of families, and in all 
members of society with whom you can possibly live 
or be thrown), there at once is, or there arises, an 
immediate claim for a kind and proper treatment of 
these opinions and of these feelings. They may not 
be your own, they may be utterly different from your 
own, but that has nothing to do with the question. 
As a general rule, every one present has no less right 



trench's lecture. 



29 



to them than you have to yours. You had better go, 
like Shakspeare's Timon, altogether out of the con- 
course of your fellow-creatures, if you cannot realize 
this truth and apply it too. And it is in conversation 
that you will ever give the chief proofs and evidences 
whether you do so or not. In it there must be nothing 
despotic, — nothing to give any present the idea that 
you have any right to decide what his opinions, what 
his tastes, what his habits, what his pursuits, should 
be. You will, of course, not misunderstand me here, 
— not forget that I am supposing each opinion, each 
taste, each habit and pursuit, as, on the face of it, 
allowable and innocent, although not yours. I repeat 
it, there must be no despotism in society. Equality 
must prevail as a general rule ; I say a general rule, 
because there are, no doubt, certain seasons and times 
when the intercourse of social and of family life must 
partake of that special character which is adapted to 
the various relationships of man. The parent must, 
at times, simply direct the child by his words. The 
teacher, authoritatively, must instruct the pupil. The 
master or employer must tell the employed what to 
do. And occasionally, in society, the rule above laid 
down will, by general consent, lie in abeyance, if it 
may be so expressed. And, on certain subjects, — I 
mean those whereon we are ourselves ignorant, but 
others in our company are highly informed, — we 
may be content to be just listeners, merely demon- 
strating that sympathy and interest adequate to keep 



30 



trench's lecture. 



up the flow of instruction from another's lips. But 
intercourse of this kind scarcely can be termed con- 
versation ; and when circumstances like these occur 
in social and family life, they must be directed by 
other rules not altogether applicable to our present 
subject. Now, to enter with full sympathy into the 
claims of all present in society for this equal right of 
interchanged sentiment, and to show this feeling at 
times by patient forbearance and at other times by 
manifest appreciation of that which others say, is no 
slight grace and gift. And here the various lessons 
on the subject, which experience or observation has 
taught, must be brought into play ; and the informa- 
tion in any way gained as to the various feelings, 
habits, and tastes ordinarily entertained by people of 
different ages, different professions, and different char- 
acters, must be judiciously applied. Nor will this, in 
the least, spoil free and fair discussion of any topic. 
On the contrary, it will promote it. And thus that 
principle will be rightly maintained which I have 
endeavored to lay down and commend, viz., that 
when any special opinion, feeling, or taste is expressed 
in society, — I mean, of course, in a proper and legit- 
imate way, — it should always be treated by all 
present with that measure of respect which each one 
would wish exercised towards himself for his own 
personal views. Just in proportion as men are boorish, 
coarse, and unsocial, in the true and extensive sense 
of the word, will they transgress here. Yes, even 



trench's lecture. 



31 



put together one, ungainly tempered, from his field, 
and another of the same character from his shop or 
counting house, and very likely not five minutes will 
elapse before one or the other will say something to 
disparage those habits and tastes with which he himself 
happens to be not conversant. There ensues discord 
and disseverance, or, it may be, silence and separa- 
tion. But, on the other hand, just in proportion as 
you are enabled to unite yourself with others through 
your demeanor and words, — not, of course, hypo- 
critically or obsequiously, but from real sympathy 
with all the innocent tastes and engagements of our 
fellow-creatures, — just, I say, in proportion as you 
are enabled to do this, will your intercourse with them, 
in the way of conversation, be of that kind at which 
we should aim. None will be afraid of your indulging 
in rebuffs, or ridicule, or depreciation. None will 
meet from you a cold, heartless, and repulsive indif- 
ference. To you, and before you, the flower * of 
each human heart (if I may so speak) will then have 
a tendency to open and expand its varied forms and 
hues, instead of retaining them all closed and shut 
up ; and many, many thoughts will be expressed to 
you and before you which will never be heard, or at 

* " Quale i fioretti, dol notturno gielo 

Chinati e chiusi, poi che '1 sol gP imbianca, 
Si drizzan tutti aperti in loro stelo, 
Tal mi fece io di mia virtute stanca." 

Inf. Can. ii. 127 - 9. 



32 



trench's lecture. 



all events rarely, indeed, by those of a sneering, un- 
sympathizing, hard, and ungenial spirit. Thus you 
will be known, or rather felt, instinctively felt, as one 
who will do nothing to chill, but, on the contrary, 
much to encourage that free spirit (in the best sense 
of the word) which should mark and imbue all social 
intercourse deserving the name at all ; and you will 
be welcomed by all who can appreciate good taste, 
good tact, and (I will add) good feeling too, — for 
that is the chief spring of all such conduct ; and you 
will be enabled to receive and communicate much 
pleasure and profit too, wheresover you may go. 

A word here may not be inappropriate as to what 
is sometimes called " drawing a person out " — i. e. 
leading another to tell you, or any company assembled 
in your presence, what they know, what they have 
seen, what they feel, what, in a word, they are able 
to communicate, if so disposed and led. Now, this 
drawing out is a very delicate affair. When success- 
fully done, it is most valuable. When the attempt 
proves unsuccessful, you are very likely to lose or 
interfere with the very object in view. Questioning 
of all kinds, — up from that on the simplest topic, and 
with a purpose of the simplest kind, to that involving 
the most important results, — questioning, I say, of all 
kinds, requires judgment and tact. Many persons 
much err in this department of address. Some err 
by asking about matters on which it is quite clear that 
they have no real feeling and concern. Some err by 



trench's lecture. 



33 



demands as to your own personal proceedings, where- 
with they have no connection. Some, again, err by 
putting questions, not wrongly or inappropriately, but 
merely too many at a time, or in too rapid a succes- 
sion. This scarcely can be called conversation at all, 
— and, generally speaking, (though I do not deny 
that there are exceptions, which will at once recur to 
the intelligent,) yes, generally speaking, is most un- 
satisfactory. And the reason, if we analyze the 
matter, is, that all the statements, or observations, or 
call them what you will, proceed, under such circum- 
stances, from one of the parties engaged. It is not 
reciprocal ; it is not mutually communicated with due 
equality of interchanged thought. You will at once 
perceive that this must be detrimental ; and I would 
suggest that when you may observe the damage which 
is thus done to conversation, you should seek at once 
to put the discourse on a better plan, — to shift it, as 
it were, on a better line for good progress. And that 
may sometimes be done by putting a question to 
those who question you, or even more, by making the 
number of questions on each side, in some measure, 
to correspond. This, of course, must not be done 
harshly or abruptly, nor so as to give the very least 
impression that you yourself desire to withhold and 
draw in ; but it may often be advantageously done ; 
and you will thus afford to another the natural and fit 
means of telling you something, as a response for that 
which you tell him. Then true conversation will 
3 



34 



trench's lecture. 



begin ; then the due interchange of expression, which 
alone merits the name ; then each party becomes 
rightly placed, and the intercourse will improve almost 
instantaneously. 

But if, in these very commonest forms of our 
mutual address, it is not an easy thing to put questions 
well, — neither too many, nor in their wrong place, 
— then we may be well assured that it is more diffi- 
cult still when the object, expressly, is to lead on 
another, gifted perhaps in many ways, or having per- 
haps some special thing to tell, unknown to you or 
others present. And yet what a valuable art this is ! 
Much is lost in society by incapacity for its due exer- 
cise. Much is gained by skill in its employment. 
But many reasons concur to render it very difficult. 
The following may be mentioned among many others. 
Some are full of matter, but shy or reserved. Some 
are unaware of the deep interest which certain things, 
well known to them, would have for others, if they 
would communicate them ; (in illustration of this, I 
may perhaps quote scientific men, travellers, those 
who have led strange and peculiar lives.) Some are 
too modest to put themselves in any prominent light. 
Others are too proud so to do, lest they should fail in 
winning full attention to their words. Some are jaded 
and worn with previous hours of intellectual toil, and 
the current of their thoughts is still flowing on in a 
channel of its own. Some are laboring under a kind 
of awe of one or more persons in the company. 



trench's lecture. 



35 



Some are young, and scarcely seem to realize or 
know how acceptable are the thoughts and fresh ex- 
pressions of youth to those of maturer years. Others 
are afraid of being too professional in their remarks. 
Others are indolent in the use of their tongue and 
utterance. And numerous other causes might be 
mentioned, which sadly interfere with the full, free, 
and general flow of discourse or conversation. And 
yet, at the same time, there may be rich stores in the 
assembly, — much, very much, to communicate, — 
something, at least, in each either to please, or inform 
and improve, — something perhaps in every one pres- 
ent which, if told and expressed to those around him, 
would add and contribute no slight nor unprized con- 
tribution to the common stock. But how to elicit it 
— there is the difficulty. Nevertheless, very much 
may be done by tact and kindness, by animation and 
by cordiality, by watching and waiting for fit oppor- 
tunities, by that appreciation of each one in the circle 
which will encompass and arouse all, as it were, with 
a kind of electric chain, — by a constant and deliber- 
ate aim to converse yourself at the time when it may 
be requisite, and willingly to lapse into silence and 
the background when another takes up the subject. 
And, although it is a measure which requires no little 
taste and moderation in its use, still it is sometimes 
not only very graceful, but very effectual too, if you 
will open out on some few personal topics which may 
concern yourself, and thus win a response from others 



36 



trench's lecture. 



present, who may personally know or have personally 
gone through that which you and others in the com- 
pany would desire, and rightly desire, to hear opened 
out without any reserve. 

In order, again, to promote conversation of a superior 
sort, endeavor must be made to expand and enlarge 
its bounds to the very utmost. It should be of a com- 
prehensive kind, — not the gossip of some narrow set, 
not a mere comment on the persons and affairs of any 
one locality, not a wearisome and dull repetition of 
things already, perhaps long, familiar to all present. 
I repeat, it should be comprehensive, — brought for- 
ward, as it were, from a full treasury of " things new 
and old," and coined into various sums, larger for 
such occasions as may need, and small — yes, even 
to the smallest — for the fit use and time. It should 
be formed of various materials, of that which has 
been seen, and heard, and read. A monotonous char- 
acter is fatal to it. At one time it should arouse and 
awaken, — at another it should calm and soothe. At 
one time it should lead into deep and grave questions, 
— at another it should play lightly over the surface of 
things. At one time it may touch the spirit of the 
hearer, almost into tears, — at another it may raise 
the full freedom of laughter and mirth. At one time 
it may be addressed to all within the convenient reach 
of your words, — at another to one listening ear. If 
possible, it should touch on many tastes, on many 
places, on various interests, giving to each present 



trench's lecture. 



37 



(however different each taste and character) the best 
and fairest opening for a share in the circling talk, 
which opportunity every one, at fit occasion and turn, 
should be willing to embrace, and thus to render his 
or her social dues to those who freely and fairly con- 
tribute theirs. No one, on the other hand, should 
seek dominion, nor ever two or three, over the re- 
mainder. Again, conversation should never be allowed 
so to fall into separate or little knots, that one here or 
one there should remain alone or excluded altogether. 
It should be carried on in appropriate tones of voice. 
They should be somewhat raised, or rather, I would 
say, strengthened for the old and for those who are a 
little deaf, of whom there are many. This, however, 
not too obviously ; not to remind any of infirmity. 
They should be quick, firm, and spirited for those in 
middle age, with their faculties in full strength. They 
should be somewhat gentler to the young, lest they be 
at all checked ; and somewhat slower, that they may 
have more time and means to frame their own answer. 
For which the reason is, that as " practice makes per- 
fect " in all things, so they, whose practice has, of 
course, been less than their seniors', need more time 
to make up for the want of it, even in conversation. 
At all times discourse is liable to alternations as to its 
interest and life. Expect this, and even should it 
become at any moment what is called dull, or even 
should an awkward pause and silence come on, do not 
seem to notice it. This will only make it worse. 



38 



trench's lecture. 



Rather try yourself to gather up the broken thread, or 
to introduce some new matter. Every one should 
avoid bringing forward or needlessly dwelling on any 
topic whatsoever likely to affect any others present 
with any unfavorable reminiscences. The wealthy 
will avoid, as a general rule, allusions to their property 
and wealth before any persons who, although their 
equals in society, are known to be of. poor and inade- 
quate estate. The healthy and the vigorous of frame 
will not forget that others are invalids ; those free as 
air in the disposition of their time, that others have 
but very little, and that with difficulty spared ; the 
quick and intelligent, that others are more slow in 
apprehension ; those of hardy spirit, well strung and 
braced, that others are nervous, sensitive, and tried 
by words, tones, gestures, and expressions, which 
would not try, nor vex, or affect them in the least 
degree. But what tact is requisite in all this ! And 
many, many failures must there be ; sins of commis- 
sion and of omission too, even among those who ear- 
nestly seek in this matter to fulfil, always and every- 
where, the rules of true courtesy, and, which is better 
still, the rules of true Christian love. Nevertheless, 
the aim at which we point is by no means without its 
value as a profitable exercise both of the mind and 
heart. No, nor is it ineffectual and unblessed. For, 
although at times words may be said which we would 
long to recal, and strings of feeling touched by our 
utterance which afterthought tells us we should no* 



trench's lecture. 



39 



have moved, and topics handled with much want of 
that skill and judgment which we should have wished 
most truly to employ, still, with a good aim before us, 
and with right principles in some measure realized, 
and seeking to correct any error when discovered, as 
well as to advance more in all which improves and 
adorns right social intercourse, much will be done 
towards the goodly end. And large indeed will be 
the amount of pleasure and of benefit which you may 
thus hope to reap for yourself and communicate to 
others in the course of your life, and that, too, up to 
an age, should your days be prolonged, when you 
may be shut up, or at all events much restrained, 
from many other means of active usefulness. For 
the mellowed wisdom of age, showing and expressing 
itself in that charity and sympathy for all which noth- 
ing less than experience itself has taught, is indeed a 
strong and beautiful thing. 

Hitherto I have spoken altogether on conversation 
with those whose rank and position of life corresponds 
with your own. A few words now on conversation, 
first, with those of a higher rank, and, secondly, with 
those in the humbler conditions of life — to use the 
common phrase ; and every man should be qualified 
and prepared for any and for all kinds of association. 

To those of a higher rank than ourselves we may, 
without derogating in the least from our independence 
and self-respect, show that deference which not only 
tne customs of all nations, but the Scripture also 



40 



trench's lecture. 



most evidently inculcates. This, of course, will ap- 
pear when engaged with them in conversation. It 
will, however, be shown rather in some occasional 
acknowledgment than in the manner or matter of dis- 
course. The rank of another does not in the least 
demand that you should surrender your opinion to his, 
nor conceal your sentiments, nor assume any other 
line of subjects and topics than you would address to 
those more immediately your equals in worldly position. 
A vague, undefined notion seems to float through 
each rank of society in our land, that those in the 
stage above think, feel, and act in a manner different 
from those below. A very great mistake this, which 
oftentimes chills and checks and mars all open free- 
dom of address when one of an higher and one of a 
lower rank are brought into those circumstances where 
the opportunity for conversation occurs, if not the 
absolute claim. But let it be remembered that the 
mind and heart of man or of woman varies but little 
through these mere distinctions of the world. I do 
not say that it does not vary at all, but very little. 
The main current of joy, the main current of sorrow, 
is the same in all classes, though the lesser streams 
may variously and separately flow. The main cur- 
rent of affections, of interests, is the same. All are 
subject to the same need of kind, friendly sympathy ; 
all are made to interchange thought ; all share in the 
manifold impressions of our common nature. Wealth 
and nobility, and rank and station, are, after all, only 



trench's lecture. 



41 



artificial things, not the main staple of life in any 
man or woman. When, therefore, you are brought 
into the society of one or more like these, be to them 
appropriately courteous. Acknowledge their position 
at once, and then let your intercourse with them flow 
freely on, just as with others. Trouble not them, nor 
trouble yourself, with any other system of address. 
Deprive not them, nor deprive yourself, of free, open, 
natural communication. And, depend upon it, that 
acting and speaking thus, you will not only be often- 
times pleased rather than silenced and embarrassed 
by such society, but you will be sure to please and to 
be valued, — yes, and to meet no less friendly sym- 
pathy, both of mind and heart, than is be found in 
each other rank of life. 

And now a few words on conversation with our 
poorer friends or neighbors, or any persons in this 
class of life with whom, habitually, we may have to 
do, or whom we may meet at any time or place. 
And few of that class being, I conclude, here, I may 
speak to you as those who would gladly receive any 
hints for kind consideration as to the right way of 
fulfilling your own part in this matter. For I, too, 
would wish to be a learner on it, so important do I 
conceive it to be. So much has been said, and so 
much has been written, on the benefit of free, kindly 
intercourse between the rich and the poor, the em- 
ployers and the employed, those who labor with their 
heads and those who labor with their hands, that any 



42 



trench's lecture. 



mere general or vague observations on the subject 
would be quite out of place here. I shall, accordingly, 
regard you not only as admitting this truth, but also 
as desirous yourselves to exemplify it; and, again, as 
admitting, and feeling too, that merely to pay wages, 
and to give directions and commands, and to bestow 
alms, and to support charitable institutions (however 
needful and good such things may be), is not enough 
for one desiring to secure the sympathy and love of 
his poorer brethren. For that you must be ready, 
willing, able to converse with them. To qualify your- 
self for doing this, is in many professions an indis- 
pensable and most evident duty, — ■ for instance, with 
the ministers*)f religion and with medical men. They 
could do nothing without such conversation. And, 
considering it due at proper seasons from every one 
in a higher class of life to those below them, I shall 
just offer you a few hints, which seem to me not un- 
worthy of note. Avoid, then, on the one hand, all 
hard, overbearing address ; while, on the other, there 
must be energy, spirit, firmness, and life. Avoid all 
semblance of patronage and condescension, but at the 
same time never make any forced attempts to appear 
what you are not, or to assume a character not your 
own. Do not imagine the range of subjects small ; 
and, when you can, choose those topics in which you 
and those addressed both take an interest. Many 
there are common to all classes. Be not impatient to 
come to a point too quick, but give people a full 



trench's lecture. 



43 



opportunity to express themselves in their own way ; 
nor count this waste time. It is very much otherwise. 
Use short rather than long sentences, — language col- 
loquial, not that of books, — giving emphasis, tone, 
and strength to your words, — never lapsing into 
cold, lifeless, inexpressive tones. Trust oftentimes, 
in conversation with the poor and comparatively un- 
educated, that there is much more intelligence within 
than the answer which they make in words would 
lead you, at first sight, to expect. Be willing and 
ready to tell something about yourself, your family, 
and concerns, when there appears any interest about 
them. Remember that family ties and affections are 
strong in one as in another of the human family ; 
and, as among your own friends and associates you 
would refer to these natural topics, so do here. Let 
wants and necessities, and trials and difficulties, not 
be forgotten, but let them not be the whole subject- 
matter of discourse. No, let it range far more widely, 
far more attractively ; and your looks and your de- 
meanor, and your tones and words, being all directed 
by good will, and by practice too, you indeed will be 
no idler in good works during times and occasions 
thus employed. You will win much love, much 
esteem, much appreciation ; you will hear much right 
feeling expressed, and, at times, much to inform you 
of a practical kind. You will do good and receive 
good too. 

It appears to me that I have now presented to your 



44 



trench's lecture. 



notice almost a sufficiency of topics, relative to con- 
versation, for one single lecture. Nevertheless, I feel 
unwilling to conclude without drawing your attention 
to a few facts connected with the subject. One is, 
that the ablest and mightiest authors of all times and 
countries have borne their strong testimony to the 
attraction which conversation presents, by casting a 
large portion of their writings into this form or mould. 
Thus did Homer in poetry, Plato in philosophy, and 
dramatists, of all ages, in their plays. Thus did 
Cicero in his various treatises ; and Horace appears * 
talking to you in many and many a page. Dante's 
grand poem, " II Purgatorio," is chiefly a conversation. 
The French have ever excelled in such writings ; and 
of such a character is that well-known gem in the 
literature of Spain, I of course allude to " Don Quix- 
ote." In Shakspeare and Walter Scott it is the same, 
and they, perhaps, are the most popular writers of our 
land, except one. Who, do you ask, is that ? John 
Bunyan, the author of the " Pilgrim's Progress ; " but 
that very book comes up with its testimony too, being 
a dialogue throughout, — rich in pathos and wit, rich 
in illustration, rich in experience, rich in all variety 
and combination, — in a word, the very perfection of 
talk ; not less attractive than it is weighty, not less 

* " Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico 
Tangit, et admissus circum praecordia ludit." 

Pers. i. 116. 



trench's lecture. 



45 



entertaining than heavenly, holy, and full of all things 
which make a book precious. 

But another book there is, of which it is well 
said : — 

" A glory gilds the sacred page, 
Majestic like the sun ! 
It gives a light to every age ; 
It gives, but borrows none." 

And in that book of books there are four short but 
most mighty narratives. And each of those narra- 
tives contains the one most important record which 
ever had to be told upon this earth. Each of them 
gives one concurrent history ; namely, that of the life 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, with his sayings and his 
deeds. And of conversation these holy narratives are 
full. God has chosen this mode of reaching our minds 
and influencing our hearts, by large — very large — 
portions of them written after this fashion. Cowper 
felt this so deeply, that, in his poem on our present 
subject, he has beautifully told and paraphrased all 
that went on when Jesus met and talked with the two 
disciples on the way to Emmaus. Moreover, in those 
gospels, there is one, penned by that " disciple whom 
Jesus loved ; " and if there is much conversation in 
all four of them, in it especially — in the gospel of 
St. John — conversation appears in all its full and 
continued glory. Take one or two examples. Man- 
kind, all mankind, had to be taught about the complete 
atonement for our sins made by our Saviour on the 



46 



trench's lecture. 



cross. Where is it more clearly, more mightily told 
than in the third chapter of St. John's gospel ? But 
what is that chapter ? Is it a law prescribed in set 
terms ? — No. Is it a sermon ? — No. Is it a mere 
address ? — No. You will all remember it is a con- 
versation, — Christ's conversation with Nicodemus by 
night. And so it is again in the very next chapter, 
where a subject of no less importance — I say it ad- 
visedly, no less importance — is set forth, viz. the 
work of the Holy Spirit in man's heart ; and that is 
portrayed for us in a conversation with the woman of 
Samaria, at Sychar's well. What striking instances 
are these ! And many others might be added to 
them. And thus we have before us even the sanction 
and proof from the Word of God, that the most mighty 
and transcendent truth can reach us in no better form 
than that which conversation gives, and also that Jesus 
Christ put his own royal stamp of glory on it, by em- 
ploying it Himself continually, when upon the earth 
among men, though he was their Lord and their God. 

Having thus been led on, — I think very naturally, 
and, as I think, quite appropriately, too, for one of 
my office and position, at any time or place, or on 
any subject, — I will not return to any lighter theme. 
I do not in the least regret that I have selected my 
present topic out of very many which suggested them- 
selves to my mind, when I was asked to exercise the 
privilege of thus addressing you, as I have now done 
for these four years. I might have chosen others far 



trench's lecture. 



47 



more entertaining, and, no doubt, some far more 
kindling and exciting at this present time,* when our 
thoughts and our feelings are all so concentrated on 
one distant spot of strife and of contest, and of danger, 
and of bravery, and wounds, and deaths, and bereave- 
ments, — and amidst all, of honor unexampled to our 
brave brethren in arms. But, for many reasons, I 
have done otherwise. I have chosen, as usual, a sub- 
ject of general, of national, of wide-world, of never- 
failing interest, from day to day, from week to week, 
from month to month, from year to year, among the 
vast race of our fellows, — born social creatures, 
born for mutual sympathy, with interchanged utter- 
ance, speech, and conversation. Strongly do I feel 
its importance, and I cannot help expressing my sur- 
prise that so little,, so very little, has systematically 
been written or said upon it. I have found it no ordi- 
nary theme, I assure you ; and, though it is one on 
which we all instinctively are interested in any circle, 
or with whomsoever we may at any time be, still it is 
not one on which the arrangement and classification 
of thought is an easy thing. I therefore shall not feel 
disappointed, nor, do I trust, will you be disappointed 
either, in that good employment of your time which 
you have a right to expect from me, as your lecturer 
to-night here, if I shall have set before you any 
thoughts, for your attention, which may improve, in 
the least degree, the course and the current of ordi- 

* December, 1854. 



48 



trench's lecture. 



nary conversation. When we remember how much 
of our innocent gratification, — how much of our daily 
harmony one with another, — how much of our mu- 
tual improvement, — depends on the right exercise of 
this goodly gift, — then, I am sure, you will not con- 
sider that the subject is one to be neglected or ignored. 
I verily believe that I do not over-state the fact, in 
asserting that for one time when we are liable to hurt, 
or distress, or offend another by our acts and deeds, 
there are fifty or an hundred, or perhaps more, occa- 
sions, when we are liable to do so by our words, and 
demeanor, and utterance. And again, for once that 
we can do kind and profitable actions to those around 
us, and associating with us, there are fifty or an hun- 
dred, — perhaps more occasions still, — when we can 
please or profit another by our words. I ask you, as 
those who can judge in this matter for yourselves, " Is 
it not so ? Is it not so most undeniably ? " Well, 
then, if I have been successful in laying down any 
right principles, in exposing anything disadvantageous, 
or in presenting any available means for rendering 
your daily intercourse more evidently kind, more 
evidently sympathizing, more evidently, in a word, 
such as that which every good man would wish to 
exhibit, and which must render him not only wel- 
come and not only useful, but a real and true orna- 
ment of society in the best sense of the word ; if I 
have shown you anything whatever available to this 
end, whether for your use at home or abroad, in the 



trench's lecture. 



49 



cottage or the shop, in the humblest abode or in the 
noblest and in the wealthiest, then surely I shall not 
have spoken in vain. I speak on no narrow topic, 
and I speak for all. Truly it is one which touches all ; 
and in this lies its strength and its interest. There is 
no one, I believe, who does not intuitively and instinc- 
tively feel either his gain or his loss in conversation, 
— the effect of it on his own mind and on his own 
feelings at the time and afterwards, — either its harms 
or its charms. All must feel this, though unable per- 
haps to classify their thoughts or express them on it, 
and perhaps they have never thought of so doing. 
And I, for one, will not hesitate to say that, it having 
been my lot to mix much, and willingly, in all the 
various classes of society, — and having endeavored, 
so far as in my power has been, to cultivate and show 
a true brotherly and friendly spirit, both to high and 
low, — I have met nothing to confer more pleasure 
and more advantage in daily life than fit conversation. 
I have found it from the poorest. I have found it 
from those of middle station. I have found it among 
the noble and the rich. And, while without it the 
hours of social and of family life may drag on heavily, 
and in a wearisome and worthless way, under the 
roofs of splendor and magnificence, and in the midst 
of feasts, and pomp, and parade, with it, freely inter- 
changed from well-informed heads and cordial hearts, 
expressing what they know and telling what they feel, 
without any restraint except that of love, and tact, and 
4 



50 



trench's lecture. 



propriety, — with it, I say, the simplest home may be 
one of enjoyment .and improvement every recurring 
day, and each coming guest will share its attractions, 
— and therefore I say to every one present, " Despise 
not this gift, and try to improve it ; and seek Divine 
help for its right regulation, as well as for its use ; 
and be well assured that, under God's blessing, in its 
direction you will gain for yourself, and promote for 
your fellow-creatures, no slight share of true enjoy- 
ment, no slight benefits both for this world and for the 
world to come." 



PART III. 



A WORD TO THE WISE; 

BY 

PARRY GWYNNE. 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



INTRODUCTION. 

It is readily acknowledged, by all well educated 
foreigners, that English Grammar is very easy to 
learn, the difficulties of the language lying in the 
numberless variations and licenses of its pronuncia- 
tion. Since to us then, children of the soil, pronun- 
ciation has no difficulties to offer, is it not a reproach 
that so many speak their own language in an inelegant 
and slatternly manner, — either through an inexcusable 
ignorance of grammatical rules, or a wanton violation 
of them ? There are two sorts of bad speakers, — 
the educated and the uneducated. I write for the 
former, and I shall deal the less leniently with them, 
because " where much is given, much will be ex- 
pected." Ay, and where much has been achieved 
too, and intellectual laurels have been gathered, is it 
not a reproach that a slatternly mode of expression 
should sometimes deteriorate from the eloquence of 
the scholar, and place the accomplished man or 
woman, in this respect, on a level with the half- 
educated or the illiterate ? 



54 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



Some one, I think it is Lord Chesterfield, has wisely- 
said, " Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well." 
Then, if our native language is worth studying, surely 
it is worth speaking well, and as there is no standing 
still in excellence of any kind, so, even in language, 
— in so simple a thing as the expression of our 
thoughts by words, — if we do not improve we shall 
retrograde. 

It is a common opinion that a knowledge of Latin 
supersedes the necessity of the study of English gram- 
mar. This must entail a strong imputation of care- 
lessness on our Latin students, who sometimes commit 
such solecisms in English as make us regret they did 
not once, at least, peruse the grammatical rules of 
their native language. 

We laugh at the blunders of a foreigner, but per- 
petrate our own offences with so much gravity that an 
observer would have a right to suppose we consider 
them what they really are, — no laughing matter. 



CHAPTER I. 
i. 

Some people speak of " so many spoonsfull" in- 
stead of " so many spoonfuls." The rule on this 
subject says : " Compounds ending in ful, and all 
those in which the principal word is put last, form the 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



55 



plural in the same manner as other nouns, — as * hand- 
fuls, spoonfuls, mouthfuls,' " &c., &c. 

Logic will demonstrate the propriety of this rule. 
Are you measuring by a plurality of spoons ? If so, 
M so many spoonsfull " must be the correct term ; but 
if the process of measuring be effected by refilling the 
same spoon, then it becomes evident that the precise 
idea meant to be conveyed is, the quantity contained 
in the vessel by which it is measured, which is a 
" spoonful." 

ii. 

It is a common mistake to speak of " a disagreeable 
effluvia." This word is effluvium in the singular, and 
effluvia in the plural. The same rule should be ob- 
served with automaton, arcanum, erratum, phenome- 
non, memorandum, and several others which are less 
frequently used, and which change the um or on into 
a, to form the plural. It is so common a thing, how- 
ever, to say memorandums, that I fear it would sound 
a little pedantic, in colloquial style, to use the word 
memoranda ; and it is desirable, perhaps, that custom 
should make an exception of this word, as well as of 
encomium, and allow two terminations to it, according 
to the taste of the speaker and the style of the dis- 
course, — memorandums or memoranda, like enco- 
miums or encomia. 



56 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



III. 

We have heard pulse and patience treated as plural- 
ities, much to our astonishment. 

IV. 

It seems to be a position assumed by all gram- 
marians, that their readers already understand the 
meaning of the word " case," as applied to nouns and 
pronouns ; hence they never enter into a clear expla- 
nation of the simple term, but proceed at once to a 
discussion of its grammatical distinctions, in which it 
frequently happens that the student, for want of a 
little introductory explanation, is unable to accom- 
pany them. But I am not going to repeat to the 
scholar how the term " case " is derived from a Latin 
word signifying " to fall," and is so named because 
all the other, cases fall or decline from the nominative, 
in order to express the various relations of nouns to 
each other, — which in Latin they do by a difference 
of termination, in English by the aid of prepositions, 
— and that an orderly arrangement of all these dif- 
ferent terminations is called the declension of a noun, 
&c. I am not going to repeat to the scholar the 
things he already knows ; but to you, my gentle 
readers, to whom Latin is still an unknown tongue, to 
whom grammars are become obsolete things, and 
grammatical definitions would be bewildering prelimi- 
naries, " more honored in the breach than in the 
observance," — to you I am anxious to explain, in the 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 57 

clearest manner practicable, all the mysteries of this 
case, because it was a cruel perplexity to myself in 
days of yore. And I will endeavor to make my lec- 
ture as brief and clear as possible, requesting you to 
bear in mind that no knowledge is to be acquired 
without a little trouble ; and that whosoever may con- 
sider it too irksome a task to exert the understanding 
for a short period, must be content to remain in in- 
excusable and irremediable ignorance. Though, I 
doubt not, when you come to perceive how great the 
errors are which you daily commit, you will not 
regret having sat down quietly for half an hour to 
listen to an unscholastic exposition of them. 

v. 

We all understand the meaning of the word " case," 
as it is applied to the common affairs of life ; but 
when we meet with it in our grammars, we view it as 
an abstruse term. We will not consent to believe that 
it means nothing more than position of affairs, con- 
dition, or circumstances, any one of which words 
might be substituted for it with equal propriety, if it 
were not indispensable in grammar to adhere strictly 
to the same term when we wish to direct the attention 
unerringly to the same thing, and to keep the under- 
standing alive to the justness of its application ; whilst 
a multiplicity of names to one thing would be likely 
to create confusion. Thus, if one were to say, " This 
is a very hard case," or " A singular case occurred 



56 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



the other day," or " That poor man's case is a very 
deplorable one," we should readily comprehend that 
by the word " case " was meant " circumstance " or 
44 situation ; " and when we speak, in the language of 
the grammar, of " a noun in the nominative case," 
we only mean a person or thing placed in such cir- 
cumstances as to become merely named, or named as 
the performer of some action, — as "the man," or 
u the man walks." In both these sentences, " man " 
is in the nominative case ; because in the first he is 
simply named, without reference to any circumstance 
respecting him, and in the second he is named as the 
performer of the act of walking mentioned. When 
we speak of a noun in the possessive case, we simply 
mean a person or thing placed under such circum- 
stances as to become named as the possessor of some- 
thing ; and when we speak of a noun in the objective 
case, we only intend to express a person or thing 
standing in such a situation as to be, in some way or 
other, affected by the act of some other person or 
thing, — as " Henry teaches Charles." Here Henry 
is, by an abbreviation of terms, called the nominative 
case, (instead of the noun in the nominative case,) 
because he stands in that situation in which it is in- 
cumbent on us to name him as the performer of the 
act of teaching ; and Charles is, by the same abbre- 
viating license, called the objective case, because he 
is in such a position of affairs as to receive the act of 
teaching which Henry performs. I will now tell you 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



59 



how you may always distinguish the three cases. 
Read the sentence attentively, and understand accu- 
rately what the nouns are represented as doing. If 
any person or thing be represented as performing an 
action, that person or thing is a noun in the nomi- 
native case. If any person or thing be represented as 
possessing something, that person or thing is a noun in 
the possessive case. And if any person or thing be 
represented as neither performing nor possessing, it is 
a noun in the objective case, whether directly or indi- 
rectly affected by the action of the nominative ; be- 
cause, as we have in English but three cases, which 
contain the substance of the six Latin cases, whatever 
is neither nominative nor possessive must be objective. 
Here I might wander into a long digression on passive 
and neuter verbs, which I may seem to have totally 
overlooked in the principle just laid down ; but I am 
not writing a grammar, — not attempting to illustrate 
the various ramifications of grammatical laws to people 
who know nothing at all about them, — any more 
than I am writing for the edification of the accom- 
plished scholar, to whom purity of diction is already 
familiar. I am writing, chiefly, for that vast portion 
of the educated classes who have never looked into a 
grammar since their school days were over, but who 
have ingeniously hewn out for themselves a middle 
path between ignorance and knowledge, and to whom 
certain little hillocks in their way have risen up, under 
a dense atmosphere, to the magnitude of mountains. 



60 



A WOKD TO THE WISE. 



1 merely wish to give to them, since they will not 
take the trouble to search for themselves, one broad 
and general principle, unclogged by exceptions, to 
guide them to propriety of speech ; and should they 
afterwards acquire a taste for grammatical disputation, 
they will of course apply to more extensive sources 
for the necessary qualifications. 

VI. 

It is scarcely possible to commit any inaccuracy in 
the use of these cases when restricted to nouns, but in 
the application of them to pronouns a woful confusion 
often arises ; though even in this confusion exists a 
marked distinction between the errors of the ill-bred 
and those of the well-bred man. To use the objective 
instead of the nominative is a vulgar error; to use the 
nominative instead of the objective is a genteel error. 
No person of decent education would think of saying, 
" Him and me are going to the play." Yet how 
often do we hear even well educated people say, 
" They were coming to see my brother and i," — " The 
claret will be packed in two hampers for Mr. Smith 
and I," — " Let you and jf try to move it," — " Let 
him and I go up and speak to them," — ■ " Between 
you and I," &c. &c. ; — faults as heinous as that of the 
vulgarian who says, " Him and me are going to the 
play," and with less excuse. Two minutes' reflection 
will enable the scholar to correct himself, and a little 
exercise of memory will shield him from a repetition 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



61 



of the fault ; but, for the benefit of those who may 
not be scholars, we will accompany him through the 
mazes of his reflections. Who are the persons that 
are performing the act of " coming to see " ? " They.' 1 '' 
Then the pronoun they must stand in the nominative 
case. Who are the persons to whom the act of 
44 coming to see " extends ? " My brother and I." 
Then " my brother and I," being the objects affected 
by the act of the nominative, must be a noun and 
pronoun standing in the objective case ; and as nouns 
are not susceptible of change on account of cases, it 
is only the pronoun which requires alteration to render 
the sentence correct : " They were coming to see my 
brother and me." The same argument is applicable 
to the other examples given. In the English language, 
the imperative mood of a verb is never conjugated 
with a pronoun in the nominative case, therefore, 
44 Let you and J try to move it," " Let him and i" go 
up and speak to them," are manifest improprieties. 
A very simple test may be formed by taking away 
the first noun or pronoun from the sentence altogether 
and bringing the verb or preposition right against that 
pronoun which you use to designate yourself : thus, 
44 They were coming to see 7"," 44 The claret will be 
packed in two hampers for 2," 44 Let I try to move 
it," &c. By this means your own ear will correct 
you, without any reference to grammatical rules. 
And bear in mind that the number of nouns it may be 



62 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



necessary to press into the sentence will not alter the 
case respecting the pronouns. 

" Between you and I " is as erroneous an expression 
as any. Change the position of the pronouns, and 
say, " Between I and you ; " or change the sentence 
altogether, and say, " Between I and the wall there 
was a great gap ; " and you will soon see in what 
case the first person should be rendered. w Prepo- 
sitions govern the objective case," therefore it is im- 
possible to put a nominative after a preposition without 
a gross violation of a rule which ought to be familiar 
to everybody. 

VII. 

The same mistake extends to the relative pronouns 
" who " and " whom." We seldom hear the objec- 
tive case used either by vulgar or refined speakers. 
" Who did you give it to ? " u Who is this for ? " are 
solecisms of daily occurrence ; and when the objective 
" whom " is used, it is generally put in the wrong 
place ; as, " The person whom I expected would pur- 
chase that estate," " The man whom they intend shall 
execute that work." This intervening verb in each 
sentence, " I expected " and " they intend," coming 
between the last verb and its own nominative (the 
relative pronoun), has no power to alter the rule, and 
no right to violate it ; but as the introduction of an in- 
tervening verb, in such situations, is likely to beguile 
the ear and confuse the judgment, it would be better 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



63 



to avoid such constructions altogether, and turn the 
sentence in a different way ; as, " The person whom I 
expected to he the purchaser of that estate," " The 
man whom they intend to execute that work. 1 " If the 
reader will cut off the intervening verb, which has 
nothing to do with the construction of the sentence, 
except to mystify it, he will perceive at a glance the 
error and its remedy : " The person whom would 
purchase that estate," " The man whom shall execute 
that work." 

VIII. 

It is very easy to mistake the nominative when 
another noun comes between it and the verb, which is 
frequently the case in the use of the indefinite and 
distributive pronouns ; as, " One of those houses were 
sold last week," " Each of the daughters are to have 
a separate share," " Every tree in those plantations 
have been injured by the storm," " Either of the chil- 
dren are at liberty to claim it." Here it will be per- 
ceived that 'the pronouns "one," "each," "every," 
" either," are the true nominatives to the verbs ; but 
the intervening noun in the plural number, in each 
sentence, deludes the ear, and the speaker, without 
reflection, renders the verb in the plural instead of the 
singular number. The same error is often committed 
when no second noun appears to plead an apology for 
the fault ; as, " Each city have their peculiar privi- 
leges," " Everybody has a right to look after their 



64 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



own interest," " Either are at liberty to claim it." 
This is the effect of pure carelessness. 

IX. 

There is another very common error, the reverse 
#f the last mentioned, which is that of rendering the 
adjective pronoun in the plural number instead of the 
singular in such sentences as the following : " These 
kind of entertainments are not conducive to general 
improvement," " Those sort of experiments are often 
dangerous." This error seems to originate in the 
habit which people insensibly acquire of supposing 
the prominent noun in the sentence (such as " enter- 
tainments " or " experiments") to be the noun quali- 
fied by the adjective " these " or " those ; " instead of 
which it is " kind," " sort," or any word of that 
description immediately following the adjective, which 
should be so qualified, and the adjective must be 
made to agree with it in the singular number. We 
confess it is not so agreeable to the ear to say, " This 
kind of entertainments," " That sort of experiments ; " 
but it would be easy to give the sentence a different 
form, and say, " Entertainments of this kind," " Ex- 
periments of that sort," by which the requisitions of 
grammar would be satisfied, and those of euphony too. 

x. 

But the grand fault, the glaring impropriety, com- 
mitted by " all ranks and conditions of men," rich 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



65 



and poor, high and low, illiterate and learned, — ex- 
cept, perhaps, one in twenty, — and from which not 
even the pulpit or the bar is totally free, — is, the 
substitution of the active verb lay for the neuter verb 
lie (to lie down). The scholar knows that 44 active 
verbs govern the objective case," and therefore de- 
mand an objective case after them ; and that neuter 
verbs will not admit an objective case after them, 
except through the medium of a preposition. He, 
therefore, has no excuse for his error, it is a wilful 
one ; for him the following is not written. And here 
I may as well say, once for all, that whilst I would 
remind the scholar of his lapses, my instructions and 
explanations are offered only to the class which re- 
quires them. 

44 To lay " is an active transitive verb, like love, 
demanding an objective case after it, without the 
intervention of a preposition. 44 To lie " is a neuter 
verb, not admitting an objective case after it, except 
through the intervention of a preposition ; — yet this 
44 perverse generation " will go on substituting the 
former for the latter. Nothing can be more erroneous 
than to say, as people constantly do, "• I shall go and 
lay down." The question which naturally arises in 
the mind of the discriminating hearer is, 44 What are 
you going to lay down, — money, carpets, plans, or 
what ? " for, as a transitive verb is used, an object is 
wanted to complete the sense. The speaker means, 
in fact, to tell us that he (himself) is going to lie 
5 



66 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



down, instead of which he gives us to understand that 
he is going to lay down or put down something which 
he has not named, but which it is necessary to name 
before we can understand the sentence ; and this sen- 
tence, when completed according to the rules of gram- 
mar, will never convey the meaning he intends. One 
might as well use the verb " to put" in this situation, 
as the verb " to lay," for each is a transitive verb, 
requiring an objective case immediately after it. If 
you were to enter a room, and, finding a person lying 
on the sofa, were to address him with such a question 
as " What are you doing there ? " you would think it 
ludicrous if he were to reply, " I am putting down ; " 
yet it would not be more absurd than to say, " I am 
laying down ; " but custom, whilst it fails to reconcile 
us to the error, has so familiarized us with it, that we 
hear it without surprise, and good breeding forbids our 
noticing it to the speaker. The same mistake is com- 
mitted through all the tenses of the verb. How often 
are nice ears wounded by the following expressions, 
— " My brother lays ill of a fever," — " The vessel 
lays in St. Katherine's Docks," — "The books were 
laying on the floor," — 44 He laid on a sofa three 
weeks," — " After I had laid down, I remembered 
that I had left my pistols laying on the table." You 
must perceive that, in every one of these instances, 
the wrong verb is used ; correct it, therefore, accord- 
ing to the explanation given ; thus, " My brother lies 
ill of a fever," — " The vessel lies in St. Katherine's 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



6? 



Docks," — "The books were lying on the floor," — 
" He lay on a sofa three weeks," — " After I had lain 
down, I remembered that I had left my pistols lying 
on the table." 

It is probable that this error has originated in the 
circumstance of the present tense of the verb " to 
lay " being conjugated precisely like the imperfect 
tense of the verb " to lie," for they are alike in orthog- 
raphy and sound, and different only in meaning ; and 
in order to remedy the evil which this resemblance 
seems to have created, I have conjugated at full length 
the simple tenses of the two verbs, hoping the ex- 
position may be found useful ; for it is an error which 
must be corrected by all who aspire to the merit of 
speaking their own language well. 



Verb Active 

To lay. 
Present tense. 

Hay 

Thou layest 
He lays 
We lay 
You lay 
They lay 



money, 
carpets, 
> plans, 
— any 
thing. 



I laid 
Thou laidest 
He laid 
We laid 
You laid 
They laid 



Imperfect tense. 



money, 
carpets, 
plans, 
— any 
thing. 



Verb Neuter. 

To lie. 
Present tense. 



Hie 

Thou liest 
He lies 
We lie 
You lie 
They lie 



down, 
too long, 
on a sofa, 
— any 
where. 



Imperfect tense. 



I lay 
Thou layest 
He lay| 
We lay* 
You lay 
They lay 



down, 
too long, 
on a sofa, 
— any 
where. 



Present Participle, Laying. 
Perfect Participle, Laid. 



Present Participle, Lying. 
Perfect Participle, Lain. 



68 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



In such sentences as these, wherein the verb is used 
reflectively, — "If I lay myself down on the grass I 
shall catch cold," " He laid himself down on the 
green sward," — the verb " to lay" is with propriety 
substituted for the verb " to lie ; " for the addition 
of the emphatic pronoun myself, or himself, con- 
stituting an objective case, and coming immediately 
after the verb, without the intervention of a prepo- 
sition, renders it necessary that the verb employed 
should be active, not neuter, because " active verbs 
govern the objective case." But this is the only con- 
struction in which " to lay " instead of "to lie " can 
be sanctioned by the rules of grammar. 

XI. 

The same confusion often arises in the use of the 
verbs sit and set, rise and raise. Sit is a neuter 
verb, set an active one ; yet how often do people most 
improperly say, " I have set with him for hours," 
" H<e set on the beach till the sun went down," " She 
set three nights by the patient's bedside." What did 
they set, — potatoes, traps, or what ? for as an objec- 
tive case is evidently implied by the use of an active 
verb, an object is indispensable to complete the sense. 
No tense whatever of the verb " to sit " is rendered 
" set," which has but one word throughout the whole 
verb, except the active participle " setting ; " and 
" sit " has but two words, " sit " and " sat," except 
the active participle " sitting ; " therefore it is very 



A WOED TO THE WISE. 



69 



easy to correct this error by the help of a little atten- 
tion. 

XII. 

Raise is the same kind of verb as set, — active- 
transitive, requiring an objective case after it ; and it 
contains only two words, raise and raised, besides 
the active participle raising. Rise is a neuter verb 5 
not admitting an objective case. It contains two 
words, rise and rose ; besides the two participles, 
rising and risen. It is improper, therefore, to say, 
" He rose the books from the floor," " He rises the 
fruit as it falls," " After she had risen the basket on 
her head," &c. In all such cases use the other verb 
raise. It occurs to me, that if people would take the 
trouble to reckon how many different words a verb 
contains, they would be in less danger of mistaking 
them. " Lay" contains two words, " lay " and " laid," 
besides the active participle " laying." " Lie " has 
also two words, " lie " and " lay," besides the two 
participles " lying " and " lain ; " and from this second 
word " lay " arises all the confusion I have had to 
lament in the foregoing pages. 

XIII. 

To the scholar I would remark the prevalent im- 
propriety of adopting the subjunctive instead of the 
indicative mood, in sentences where doubt or uncer- 
tainty is expressed, although the former can only be 



70 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



used in situations in which 44 contingency and futurity " 
are combined. Thus, a gentleman, giving an order 
to his tailor, may say, " Make me a coat of a certain 
description, if it fit me well I will give you another 
order ; " because the " fit " alluded to is a thing which 
the future has to determine. But when the coat is 
made and brought home, he cannot say, " If this cloth 
he good I will give you another order," for the quality 
of the cloth is already determined ; the future will 
not alter it. It may be good, it may be bad, but 
whatever it may be it already is ; therefore, as con- 
tingency only is implied, without futurity, it must be 
rendered in the indicative mood, " If this cloth is 
good," &c. We may with propriety say, " If the 
book be sent in time, I shall be able to read it to- 
night," because the sending of the book is an event 
which the future must produce ; but we must not say, 
" If this book be sent for me, it is a mistake," be- 
cause here the act alluded to is already performed, — 
the book has come. I think it very likely that people 
have been beguiled into this error by the prefix of the 
conjunction, forgetting that conjunctions may be used 
with the indicative as well as with the subjunctive 
mood. 

XIV. 

Some people use the imperfect tense of the verb 
" to go," instead of the past participle, and say, " I 
should have went" instead of " I should have gone." 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



71 



This is not a very common error, but it is a very 
great one ; and I should not have thought it could 
come within the range of the class for which this 
book is written, but that I have heard the fault com- 
mitted by people of even tolerable education. One 
might as well say, " I should have was at the theatre 
last night," instead of " I should have been at the 
theatre," &c, as say, " I should have went" instead 
of " I should have gone" 

xv. 

Others there are who invert this error, and use the 
past participle of the verb " to do " instead of a tense 
of the verb, saying, " I done" instead of " I did." 
This is inadmissible. 44 1 did it," or 44 1 have done it," 
is a phrase correct in its formation, its application 
being, of course, dependent on other circumstance's. 

XVI. 

There are speakers who are too refined to use the 
past (or perfect) participle of the verbs "to drink," 
44 to run," 44 to begin," &c, and substitute the imper- 
fect tense, as in the verb 44 to go." Thus, instead of 
saying, 44 1 have drunk," 44 he has run," 44 they have 
begun,", they say, 44 1 have drank" 44 he has ran" 
44 they have began" &c. These are minor errors, I 
admit ; still, nice ears detect them. 



72 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



XVII. 

I trust it is unnecessary to warn any of my readers 
against adopting the flagrant vulgarity of saying 
" don't ought," and " hadn't ought," instead of 14 ought 
not." It is also incorrect to employ no for not in 
such phrases as, " If it is true or no (not)," " Is it so 
or no (not) ? " 

XVIII. 

Many people have an odd way of saying, " I ex- 
pect," when they only mean " I think," or " I con- 
clude ; " as, " I expect my brother is gone to Richmond 
to-day," " I expect those books were sent to Paris 
last year." This is wrong. Expect can relate only 
to future time, and must be followed by a future 
tense, or a verb in the infinitive mood ; as, " I expect 
my brother will go to Richmond to-day," " I expect 
to find those books were sent to Paris last year." 
Here the introduction of a future tense, or of a verb 
in the infinitive mood, rectifies the grammar without 
altering the sense ; but such a portion of the sentence 
must not be omitted in expression, as no such ellipsis 
is allowable. 

XTX. 

The majority of speakers use the imperfect tense 
and the perfect tense together, in such sentences as 
the following, — "I intended to have called on him 
last night," " I meant to have purchased one yester- 
day," — or a pluperfect tense and a perfect tense 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



73 



together I have sometimes heard, as, "You should 
have written to have told her." These expressions 
are illogical, because, as the intention to perform an 
act must be prior to the act contemplated, the act 
itself cannot with propriety be expressed by a tense 
indicating a period of time previous to the intention. 
The three sentences should be corrected thus, placing 
the second verb in the infinitive mood, " I intended to 
call on him last night," " I meant to purchase one 
yesterday," " You should have written to tell her." 

But the imperfect tense and the perfect tense are to 
be combined in such sentences as the following, 44 1 
remarked that they appeared to have undergone great 
fatigue ; " because here the act of " undergoing 
fatigue " must have taken place previous to the period 
in which you have had the opportunity of remarking 
its effect on their appearance ; the sentence, there- 
fore, is both grammatical and logical. 

xx. 

Another strange perversion of grammatical pro- 
priety is to be heard occasionally in the adoption of 
the present tense of the verb " to have," most prob- 
ably instead of the past participle, but in situations in 
which the participle itself would be a redundance ; 
such as, M If I had have known," 44 If he had have 
come according to appointment," 44 If you had have 
sent me that intelligence," &c. Of what utility is the 
word 44 have " in the sentence at all ? What office 



74 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



does it perform ? If it stands in place of any other 
word, that other word would still be an incumbrance ; 
but the sentence being complete without it, it becomes 
an illiterate superfluity. " If I had have known that 
you would have been there before me, I would have 
written to you to have waited till I had have come." 
What a construction from the lips of an educated 
person ! and yet we do sometimes hear this slip-slop 
uttered by people who are considered to " speak 
French and Italian well" and who enjoy the repu- 
tation of being " accomplished ! " 

XXI. 

It is amusing to observe the broad line of demar- 
cation which exists between vulgar bad grammar and 
genteel bad grammar, and which characterizes the 
violation of almost every rule of syntax. The vulgar 
speaker uses adjectives instead of adverbs, and says, 
" This letter is written shocking ; " the genteel speaker 
uses adverbs instead of adjectives, and says, " This 
writing looks shockingly." The perpetrators of the 
latter offence may fancy they can shield themselves 
behind the grammatical law which compels the em- 
ployment of an adverb, not an adjective, to qualify 
a verb, and behind the first rule of syntax, which 
says " a verb must agree with its nominative." But 
which is the nominative in the expression alluded to ? 
Which performs the act of looking, — the writing or 
the speaker ? To say that a thing looks when we 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



75 



look at it, is an idiom peculiar to our language, and 
some idioms are not reducible to rules ; they are con- 
ventional terms which pass current, like bank notes, 
for the sterling they represent, but must not be sub- 
mitted to the test of grammatical alchymy. It is 
improper, therefore, to say, " The queen looks beauti- 
fully," " The flowers smell sweetly," " This writing 
looks shockingly ; " because it is the speaker that 
performs the act of looking, smelling, &c, not the 
noun looked at ; and though, by an idiomatical con- 
struction necessary to avoid circumlocution, the sen- 
tence imputes the act to the thing beheld, the qualify- 
ing word must express the quality of the thing spoken 
of, adjectively, instead of qualifying the act of the 
nominative understood, adverbially. What an adjec- 
tive is to a noun, an adverb is to a verb ; an adjective 
expresses the quality of a thing, and an adverb the 
manner of an action. Consider what it is you wish 
to express, the quality of a thing, or the manner of 
an action, and use an adjective or adverb accordingly. 
But beware that you discriminate justly ; for though 
you cannot say, " The queen looked majestically in 
her robes,' 1 because here the act of looking is per- 
formed by the spectator, who looks at her, you can 
and must say, " The queen looked graciously on the 
petitioner,' 1 " The queen looked mercifully on his 
prayer," because here the act of looking is performed 
by the queen. You cannot say, " These flowers smell 
sweetly," because it is you that smell, and not the 



76 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



flowers ; but you can say, " These flowers perfume 
the air deliciously," because it is they which impart 
the fragrance, not you. You cannot say, " This 
dress looks badly," because it is you that look, not 
the dress ; but you can say, " This dress Jits badly," 
because it is the dress that performs the act of fitting 
either well or ill. There are some peculiar idioms 
which it would be better to avoid altogether, if pos- 
sible ; but if you feel compelled to use them, take 
them as they are, — you cannot prune and refine 
them by the rules of syntax, and to attempt to do so 
shows ignorance as well as affectation. 

XXII. 

There is a mistake often committed in the use of 
the adverbs of place, hence, thence, whence. People 
are apt to say, " He will go from thence to-morrow," 
&c. The preposition " from " is included in these 
adverbs, therefore it becomes tautology in sense when 
prefixed to them. 

XXIII. 

" Equally as well " is a very common expression, 
and a very incorrect one ; the adverb of comparison, 
" as," has no right in the sentence. " Equally well," 
" Equally high," " Equally dear," should be the con- 
struction ; and if a complement be necessary in the 
phrase, it should be preceded by the preposition 
" with," as, " The wall was equally high with the 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



77 



former one," " The goods at Smith's are equally dear 
with those sold at the shop next door," &c. " Equally 
the same " is tautology. 

XXIV. 

" Whether," sometimes an adverb, sometimes a 
conjunction, is a word that plainly indicates a choice 
of things (of course I cannot be supposed to mean a 
freedom of choice) ; it is highly improper, therefore, 
to place it, as many do, at the head of each part of a 
sentence, as, " I have not yet made up my mind 
whether I shall go to France, or whether I shall remain 
in England." The conjunction should not be re- 
peated, as it is evident the alternative is expressed 
only in the combination of the two parts of the sen- 
tence, not in either of them taken separately ; and the 
phrase should stand thus, " I have not yet made up 
my mind whether I shall go to France or remain in 
England." 

XXV. 

There is an awkwardness prevalent amongst all 
classes of society in such sentences as the following : 
" He quitted his horse, and got on to a stage coach," 
" He jumped on to the floor," " She laid it on to a 
dish," " I threw it on to the fire." Why use two 
prepositions where one would be quite as explicit, and 
far more elegant ? Nobody, at the present day, 
would think of saying, " He came up to London for 
to go to the exhibition," because the preposition 



78 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



" for " would be an awkward superfluity. So is 
" to " in the examples given ; in each of which there 
is an un wield iness of construction which reminds one 
of the process of glueing, or fastening, one thing " on 
to " another. Expunge the redundant preposition, 
and be assured, gentle reader, the sentence will still 
be found " an elegant sufficiency." There are some 
situations, however, in which the two prepositions 
may with propriety be employed, though they are 
never indispensable, as, " I accompanied such a one 
to Islington, and then walked on to Kingsland." But 
here two motions are implied, the walking onward, 
and the reaching of a certain point. More might be 
said to illustrate the distinction, but we believe it 
will not be deemed necessary. 

XXVI. 

There seems to be a natural tendency to deal in a 
redundance of prepositions. Many people talk of 
" continuing on." I should be glad to be informed in 
what other direction it would be possible to continue. 

XXVII. 

It is most illiterate to put the preposition of after 
the adverb off, as, " The satin measured twelve yards 
before I cut this piece off q/* it," " The fruit was gath- 
ered off of that tree." Many of my readers will 
consider such a remark quite unnecessary in this 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



79 



volume ; but many others, who ought to know better, 
must stand self-condemned on reading it. 

XXVIII. 

There is a false taste extant for the preposition 
"on" instead of " of" in songs, poetry, and many 
other situations in which there is still less excuse for 
borrowing the poetic license ; such as, " Wilt thou 
think on me, love ? " " I will think on thee, love," 
" Then think on the friend who once welcomed it 
too," &c, &c. But this is an error chiefly to be met 
with among poetasters and melo-dramatic speakers. 

XXIX. 

Some people add a superfluous preposition at the 
end of a sentence, — " More than you think /or." 
This, however, is an awkwardness rarely committed 
by persons of decent education. 

xxx. 

That " prepositions govern the objective case " is a 
golden rule of grammar ; and if it were only well 
remembered, it would effectually correct that mistake 
of substituting the nominative for the objective pro- 
noun, which has been complained of in the preceding 
pages. In using a relative pronoun in the objective 
case, it is more elegant to put the preposition before 
than after it, thus, " To whom was the order given ? " 
instead of, " Whom was the order given to ? " In- 



80 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



deed, if this practice were to be invariably adopted, it 
would obviate the possibility of confounding the nomi- 
native with the objective case, because no man would 
ever find himself able to utter such a sentence as, 
" To who was this proposal made ? " though he might 
very unconsciously say, " Who was this proposal 
made to ? " and the error would be equally flagrant 
in both instances. 

XXXI. 

There is a great inaccuracy connected with the use 
of the disjunctive conjunctions or and nor, which 
seem to be either not clearly understood, or treated 
with undue contempt by persons who speak in the 
following manner : " Henry or John are to go there 
to-night," " His son or his nephew have since put in 
their claim," " Neither one nor the other have the 
least chance of success." The conjunctions disjunc- 
tive " or " and " nor " separate the objects in sense, 
as the conjunction copulative unites them ; and as, by 
the use of the former, the things stand forth separately 
and singly to the comprehension, the verb or pronoun 
must be rendered in the singular number also; as, 
" Henry or John is to go there to-night," " His son 
or his nephew has since put in his claim," &c. If 
you look over the sentence, you will perceive that 
only one is to do the act, therefore only one can be 
the nominative to the verb. 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



81 



XXXII. 

Many people improperly substitute the disjunctive 
44 but" for the comparative " than," as, " The mind 
no sooner entertains any proposition, hut it presently 
hastens to some hypothesis to bottom it on.'" — Locke. 
" No other resource hut this was allowed him." 
44 My behavior," says she, 44 has, I fear, been the 
death of a man who had no other fault hut that of 
loving me too much." — Spectator. 

XXXIII. 

Sometimes a relative pronoun is used instead of a 
conjunction, in such sentences as the following: 44 1 
don't know but what I shall go to Brighton to-morrow," 
instead of, 44 1 don't know but that" &c. 

XXXIV. 

Sometimes the disjunctive hut is substituted for the 
conjunction that, as, 44 1 have no doubt hut he will be 
here to-night." Sometimes for the conjunction if as, 
44 1 shouldn't wonder hut that was the case." And 
sometimes two conjunctions are used instead of one, 
as, 44 If that I have offended him," 44 After that he 
had seen the parties," &c. All this is very awkward 
indeed, and ought to be avoided, and might easily be 
so by a little attention. 
6 



82 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



CHAPTER II. 
i. 

It is obsolete now to use the article an before words 
beginning with long u or with eu, and it has become 
more elegant, in modern style, to say, " a university," 
" a useful article," " a European," " a euphonious 
combination of sentences," &c, &c. It is also proper 
to say " such a one," not " such an one." 

ii. 

Some people pronounce the plural of handkerchief, 
scarf, wharf, dwarf, handkerchieves, scarves, wharves, 
dwarves. This is an error, as these words, and per- 
haps a few others, are exceptions to the rule laid 
down, that nouns ending \nf and/e shall change these 
terminations into ves to form the plural. 

in. 

There is an illiterate mode of pronouncing the 
adverb too, which is that of contracting it into the 
sound of the preposition to ; thus, " 1 think I paid to 
much for this gun," " This line is to long by half." 
The adverb too should be pronounced like the numeral 
adjective two, and have the same full distinct sound in 
delivery, as, " I think I paid two much for this gun," 
" This line is two long by half." 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



83 



IV. 

One does not expect to hear such words as " neces- 
si'ated," " preventative," &c, from people who pro- 
fess to be educated ; but one does hear them, never- 
theless, and many others of the same genus, of which 
the following list is a specimen, not a collection. 

"Febuary" and " Febbiwerry," instead of Feb- 
ruary. 

" Seckaterry " instead of secretary. 

" Gover'ment " " government. 

" Eve'min " <s evening. 

"Sev'm" " seven. 

" Holladiz " " holidays. 

" Mossle " " morsel. 

" Chapped," according to orthography, instead of 
chopped, according to polite usage. 

And we have even heard " continental " pronounced 
continential, though upon what authority we know 
not. Besides these, a multitude of others might be 
quoted, which we consider too familiar to particularize 
and " too numerous to mention." 

v. 

There is an old jest on record of a person hearing 
another pronounce the word curiosity " curosity" 
and remarking to a bystander, " That man murders 
the English language." " Nay," replies the person 
addressed, "he only knocks an eye (i) out." And 1 
am invariably reminded of this old jest whenever I 



84 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



hear such pronunciations as the following, — " Lat'n " 
for Latin, " sat'n " for satin, and Britain pronounced 
so as to rhyme with written, — of which a few ex- 
amples will be given on a subsequent page, not with 
the wild hope of comprising in so short a space all 
the perversions of prosody which are constantly taking 
place, but simply with the intention of reminding 
careless speakers of some general principles they 
seem to have forgotten, and of the vast accumulation 
of error they may engraft upon themselves by a lazy 
adherence to the custom of the crowd. Before, how- 
ever, proceeding to the words in question, it may be 
satisfactoiy to our readers to recall to their memory 
the observations of Lindley Murray on the subject. 
He says, u There is scarcely anything which more 
distinguishes a person of poor education from a person 
of a good one than the pronunciation of the unaccented 
vowels. When vowels are under the accent, the best 
speakers, and the lowest of the people, with very few 
exceptions, pronounce them in the same manner ; but 
the imaccented vowels in the mouths of the former 
have a distinct, open, and specific sound, while the 
latter often totally sink them, or change them into 
some other sound." The words that have chiefly 
struck me are the following, in which not only the i 
but some of the other vowels are submitted to the 
mutilating process, or, as I have heard it pronounced, 
mutulating. 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



55 



Brit'n instead of 


Britain. 


L at n 




Latin. 


bat n 




Satin. 


ratt n 




Patten. 


Curt n 




Curtain. 


Cert'n 




Certain. 


Bridle 




Bridal. 


Idle 




Idol. 


Meddle 




Medal. 


Moddle 




Model. 


lVientle 


t{ 


Mental. 


Mortle 


ti 


Mortal. 


Fatle 


C( 


Fatal. 


Gravle 


u 


Gravel 


Travle 


tc 


Travel. 


Sudd'n 


ic 


Sudden. 


Infidle 


(C 


Infidel. 


Scroop' '-lous 


« 


(Scrw-pw-lous. 



And a long train of et cetera, of which the above 
examples do not furnish a tithe. 

Note. — That to sound tlie e in garden and often, and the i 
in evil and etemZ, is a decided error. They should always be 
pronounced gard'n and off n, ev'l and dev'l. , 

Some people pronounce the I in Irish and its con- 
comitants so as to make the words Ireland, Irishmen, 
Irish linen, &c, sound as if they were written Arland, 
A-rishmen, Arish linen, &c. This is literally " knock- 
ing an i out." 



86 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



VI. 

It is affected, and contrary to authority, to deprive 
the s of its sharp hissing sound in the words precise, 
desolate, design, and their derivatives. 

VII. 

There is one peculiarity which we feel bound to 
notice, because it has infected English speakers, — 
that of corrupting the e and the i into the sound of a 
or u, in the words ability, humility, charity, &c. ; for 
how often is the ear wrung by such barbarisms as, 
humilutty, civ'ilutty, qu&laty, qu&ntaty, crualty, char- 
aty, humanaty, b&rbaraty, hovmble, tenuble, and so 
on, ad infinitum I — an uncouth practice, to which 
nothing is comparable, except pronouncing yalla for 
yellow. 

VIII. 

There is in some quarters a bad mode prevalent of 
pronouncing the plural of such words as face, place, 
&c, fazes, plazes, whilst the plural of price seems 
everywhere subject to the same strange mutation. The 
words should be faces, places, prices, without any 
softening of the c into z. There is, too, an ugly fashion 
of pronouncing the ng, when terminating a word or 
syllable, as we pronounce the same combination of 
letters in the word finger, and making such words as 
" singer," " ringer," &c, rhyme with linger. Some- 
times the double o is elongated into the sound which 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



87 



we give to that dipthong in " room," 44 fool," " moon," 
&c, which has a very bad effect in such words as 
book, look, nook, took, &c. ; and sometimes it is 
contracted into the sound of short u, making " foot," 
and some other words, rhyme with but. 

IX. 

And having remarked on the lingering pronunci- 
ation, it is but fair to notice a defect, the reverse of 
this, namely, that of omitting the final g in such 
words as saying, going, shilling, &c, and pronouncing 
them 44 sayin," 44 goin," 44 shillin." This is so com- 
mon an error that it generally escapes notice, but is a 
greater blemish, where we have a right to look for 
perfection, than the peculiarities of the provinces in 
those who reside there. 

x. 

It is also a common fault to add a gratuitous r to 
words ending with a vowel, such as Emmar, Louisar, 
Juliar, and to make draw, law, saw, flaw, with all 
others of the same class, rhyme with war ; to omit 
the r in such words as corks, forks, curtains, morsel, 
&c. ; in the word perhaps, when they conscientiously 
pronounce the h ; and sometimes in Paris ; or to con- 
vert it into the sound of a y when it comes between 
two vowels, as in the name Harriet, and in the words 
superior, interior, &c, frequently pronounced Aah- 
yet, su-pe-yor, in-te-yor, &c. 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



XI. 

There is a vicious mode of amalgamating the final 
s of a word (and sometimes the final c, when preceded 
and followed by a vowel) with the first letter of the 
next word, if that letter happens to be a y, in such a 
manner as to produce the sound of sh or of usu in 
usual ; as, " A nislie young man," " What makesh 
you laugh ? " " If he offendsh you, don't speak to 
him," " Ash you please," " Not jush yet," " We 
always passh your house in going to call on Missh 
Yates, — she lives near Palash Yard ; " and so on 
through all the possibilities of such a combination. 
This is decided, unmitigated cockneyis?n, having its 
parallel in nothing except the broken English of the 
sons of Abraham ; and to adopt it in conversation is 
certainly " not speaking like a Christian." The effect 
of this pronunciation on the ear is as though the 
mouth of the speaker were filled with froth, which 
impedes the utterance, and gives the semblance of a 
defect where nature had kindly intended perfection ; 
but the radical cause of this, and of many other mis- 
pronunciations, is the carelessness, sometimes the 
ignorance, of teachers, who permit children to read 
and speak in a slovenly manner, without opening 
their teeth, or taking any pains to acquire a distinct 
articulation. 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



89 



XII. 

Whilst we are on the subject of Prosody, we must 
not omit to mention the vicious pronunciation occa- 
sionally given to the words new, due, Tuesday, stu- 
pid, and a few others, sometimes corrupted into noo, 
doo, Toosday, stoopid, &c, by way of refinement, 
perhaps, for lips which are too delicate to utter the 
clear, broad, English u. 

XIII. 

Never say " Cut it in half" for this you cannot do 
unless you could annihilate one half. You may " cut 
it in two," or " cut it in halves," or f cut it through," 
or " divide it," but no human ability will enable you 
to cut it in half. 

XIV. 

Never speak of " lots " and u loads " of things. 
Young men allow themselves a diffusive license of 
speech, and of quotation, which has introduced many 
words into colloquial style that do not at all tend to 
improve or dignify the language, and which, when 
heard from ladies' 1 lips, become absolute vulgarisms. 
A young man may talk recklessly of " lots of bar- 
gains," u lots of money," " lots of fellows," " lots of 
fun," &c, but a lady may not. Man may indulge in 
any latitude of expression within the bounds of sense 
and decorum, but woman has a narrower range, — 
even her mirth must be subjected to rule. It may be 



90 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



naive, but must never be grotesque. It is not that we 
would have primness in the sex, but we would have 
refinement. Women are the purer and the more 
ornamental part of life, and when they degenerate, the 
Poetry of Life is gone. 

xv. 

" Loads " is a word quite as objectional as " lots," 
unless it can be reduced to a load of something, such 
as a sAip-load, a wagon-loa.d, a cari-load, a horse- 
load, &c. We often hear such expressions as " loads 
of shops," " loads of authors," M loads of compli- 
ments ; " but as shops, authors, compliments, are 
things not usually piled up into loads, either for ships 
or horses, we cannot discover the propriety of the 
application. 

XVI. 

Some people, guiltless of those absurdities, commit 
a great error in the use of the word quantity, apply- 
ing it to things of number, as " a quantity of friends," 
" a quantity of ships," " a quantity of houses," &c. 
Quantity can be applied ouly where bulk is indicated, 
as " a quantity of land," " a quantity of timber ; " but 
we cannot say, " a quantity of fields," " a quantity of 
trees," because trees and fields are specific individu- 
alities. Or we may apply it where individualities are 
taken in the gross, without reference to modes, as " a 
quantity of luggage," u a quantity of furniture ; " but 
we cannot say " a quantity of boxes," " a quantity of 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



91 



chairs and tables," for the same reason which is given 
in the former instances. We also apply the term 
quantity to those things of number which are too 
minute to be taken separately, as " a quantity of 
beans," " a quantity of oats," &c, &c. 

XVII. 

Avoid favorite words and phrases ; they betray a 
poverty of language or of imagination not creditable 
to a cultivated intellect. Some people are so unfor- 
tunate as to find all things vulgar that come " betwixt 
the wind and their nobility ; " others find them dis- 
gusting. Some are always anticipating, others are 
always appreciating. Multitudes are aristocratic in 
all their relations, other multitudes are as distingues. 
These two words are chiefly patronized by those whose 
pretensions in such respects are the most questionable. 
To some timid spirits, born under malignant influ- 
ences no doubt, most things present an awful appear- 
ance, even though they come in shapes so insignificant 
as a cold day or an aching finger. But, thanks to 
that happy diversity of Nature which throws light as 
well as shadow into the human character, there are 
minds of brighter vision and more cheerful temper- 
ament, who behold all things splendid, magnificent, 
down to a cup of small beer, or a half-penny orange. 
Some people have a grandiloquent force of expres- 
sion, thereby imparting a tremendous or thundering 
character even to little things. This is truly carrying 



92 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



their conceptions into the sublime, — sometimes a 
step beyond. 

We have, however, no intention of particularizing 
all the " pet " phrases which salute the ear ; but the 
enumeration of a few of them may make the candid 
culprit smile, and avoid those trifling absurdities for 
the future. 



We would, under favor, suggest to the reader the 
advantage of not relying too confidently on knowledge 
acquired by habit and example alone. There are 
many words in constant use which are perverted from 
their original meanings ; and if we were to dip into 
some standard dictionary occasionally, search out the 
true meanings of words with which we have fancied 
ourselves acquainted, and convict ourselves of all the 
errors we have been committing in following the 
crowd, our surprise, perhaps, would equal that of 
Moliere's Bourgeois Gentilhomme when he discovered 
that he had been talking prose for forty years. 

The words feasible, ostensible, obnoxious, apparent, 
obtain, refrain, domesticated, and centre, are expres- 
sions which, nine times out of ten, are misapplied, 
besides a host of others whose propriety is never 
questioned, so firmly has custom riveted the bonds of 
ignorance. 



• 



A WORD TO THE WISE. 



93 



In closing this little volume, the writer begs leave 
to say that the remarks offered are intended only as 
" Hints," which they who desire perfection may 
easily improve, by a little exercise of the understand- 
ing, and a reference to more extensive sources, into a 
competent knowledge of their own tongue ; also as 
warnings to the careless, that their lapses do not pass 
so unobserved as they are in the habit of supposing. 

Though many of the syntactical errors herein men- 
tioned are to be found in the works of some of our 
best writers, they are errors nevertheless, and stand 
as blemishes upon the productions of their genius, 
like unsightly excrescences upon a lovely skin. 
Genius is above grammar, and this conviction may 
inspire in some bosoms an undue contempt for the 
latter. But grammar is a constituent part of good 
education, and a neglect of it might argue a want of 
education, which would, perhaps, be mortifying. It 
is an old axiom that " civility costs nothing," and 
surely grammatical purity need not cost much to 
people disposed to pay a little attention to it, and who 
have received a respectable education already. It 
adds a grace to eloquence, and raises the standard of 
language where eloquence is not. 

A handsome man or handsome woman is not im- 
proved by a shabby or slatternly attire ; so the best 
abilities are shown to a disadvantage through a style 
marked by illiteracies. 



I 



PART IV. 



MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 

IN SPEAKING AND WRITING 

CORRECTED. 



MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 

IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 



1. Have you learned French yet? say learnt , as 
learned is now used only as an adjective, — as, a 
learned man. Pronounce learned in two syllables. 

2. The business would suit any one who enjoys 
bad health [from an advertisement in a London news- 
paper] ; say, any one in a delicate state of health, or, 
whose health is hut indifferent. 

3. " We have no corporeal punishment here," said 
a schoolmaster once to the author of this little work. 
Corporeal is opposed to spiritual ; say, corporal pun- 
ishment. Corporeal means having a body. The Al- 
mighty is not a corporeal being, but a spirit, as St. 
John tells us. 

4. That was a notable circumstance. Pronounce 
the first syllable of notable as no in notion. Mrs. 
Johnson is a notable housewife ; that is to say, care- 
ful. Pronounce the first syllable of notable as not in 
Nottingham. 

5. Put an advertisement in the " Times." Pro- 

7 



98 



MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



nounce advertisement with the accent on ver, and not 
on Use. 

6. He rose up and left the room ; leave out up. 

7. You have sown it very badly ; say, sewed it. 

8. Mr. Dupont learnt me French ; say, taught. 
The master teaches, but the pupil learns. 

9. John and Henry both read well, but John is the 
best reader ; say, the better reader, as best can only 
be said when three or more persons or objects are 
compared. 

10. The two first pupils I had ; say, the first two. 

11. He has mistook his true interest ; say, mistaken. 

12. Have you lit the fire, Mary ? say, lighted. 

13. The doctor has not yet came ; say, has not yet 
come. 

14. I have always gave him good advice ; say, 
given. 

15. To be is an auxiliary verb. Pronounce aux- 
iliary in five syllables, sounding the second i, and not 
in four, as we so frequently hear it. 

16. Celery is a pleasant edible ; pronounce celery 
as it is written, and not salary. 

17. Are you at leisure 7 pronounce lei in leisure 
the same as Lei in Leith, and not so as to rhyme 
with measure. 

18. Have you seen the Miss Browns lately ? say, 
the Misses Brown. 

19. You have soon forgot my kindness ; say, for- 
gotten. 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 99 

20. He keeps his coach ; say, his carriage. 

21. John is my oldest brother ; say, eldest. Elder 
and eldest are applied to persons, — older and oldest 
to things. 

22. Disputes have frequently arose on that subject ; 
say, arisen. 

23. The cloth was wove in a very short time ; say, 
woven. 

24. French is spoke in every state in Europe ; say, 
spoken. 

25. He writes as the best authors would have 
wrote, had they writ on the same subject ; say, would 
have written, — had they written. 

26. I prefer the yolk of an egg to the white ; say, 
yelk, and sound the I. 

27. He is now very decrepid ; say, decrepit. 

28. I am very fond of sparroivgrass ; say, aspar- 
agus, and pronounce it with the accent on par. 

29. You are very mischievous. Pronounce mis- 
chievous with the accent on mis, and not on chie, and 
do not say mischievious. 

30. It was very acceptable. Pronounce acceptable 
with the accent on cept, and not on ac, as we so often 
hear it. 

31. " No conversation be permitted in the Reading 
Room to the interruption of the company present. 
Neither Smoking or Refreshments allowed " [from 
the prospectus of a " Literary and Scientific Institu- 



100 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 

tion"] ; insert can after conversation, and say, neither 
smoking nor refreshments. 

32. No extras or vacations [from the prospectus of 
a schoolmistress near London] ; say, neither extras 
nor vacations. 

33. He is very covetous. Pronounce covetous as 
if it were written covet its, and not covetyus, as is 
almost universally the case. 

34. I intend to summons him ; say, summon. Sum- 
mons is a noun, and not a verb. 

35. Dearly beloved brethren. Pronounce beloved 
in three syllables, and never in two, as some clergy- 
men do. 

36. He is now forsook by every one ; say, for- 
saken. 

37. Not as I know ; say, that I know. 

38. He came for to do it ; leave out for. 

39. They have just rose from the table ; say, risen. 

40. He is quite as good as me ; say, as good as I. 

41. Many an one has done the same ; say, many a 
one. A, and not an, is used before the long sound of 
u, that is to say, when u forms a distinct syllable of 
itself, as, a unit, union, a university. It is also used 
before eu, as, a euphony ; and likewise before the 
word ewe, as, a ewe. We should also say, a youth, 
not an youth. 

42. Many people think so ; say, many persons, as 
people means a nation. 

43. " When our ships sail among the people of the 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 101 

Eastern islands, those people do not ask for gold, — 
4 iron ! iron ! ' is the call." [From a work by a peer 
of literary celebrity.] Say, among the inhabitants ; 
and, instead of those people, which is ungrammatical, 
say, those persons. 

44. Was you reading just now ? say, were you. 

45. I have not had no dinner yet ; say, I have had 
no dinner yet, or, I have not yet had my dinner, or, 
any dinner. 

46. She will never be no taller ; say, she will never 
be taller, or, she will never be any taller. 

47. I see him last Monday ; say, saw him. 

48. He was averse from such a proceeding ; say, 
averse to. 

49. He has wore his boots three months ; say, 
worn. 

50. He has trod on my toes ; say, trodden. 

51. Have you shook the cloth ? say, shaken. 

52. I have rang several times ; say, rung. 

53. I knowed him at once ; say, knew. 

54. He has growed very much ; say, grown. 

55. George has fell down stairs ; say, fallen. 

56. He has chose a very poor pattern ; say, chosen. 

57. They have broke a window ; say, broken. 

58. Give me them books ; say, those books. 

59. My brother gave me them there pictures ; say, 
gave me those pictures. 

60. Whose are these here books ? say, these books. 

61. The men which we saw ; say, whom. 



102 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



62. The books what you have ; say, which, or that. 

63. The boy as is reading ; say, who is reading. 

64. The pond is froze ; say, frozen. 

65. He has took my slate ; say, taken. 

66. He has often stole money from him ; say, 
stolen. 

67. They have drove very fast ; say, driven. 

68. I have rode many miles to-day ; say, ridden. 

69. You cannot catch him ; pronounce catch so as 
to rhyme with match, and not ketch. 

70. Who has got my slate ? leave out got. 

71. What are you doing of? leave out of 

72. If I was rich I would buy a carriage ; say, If 
I were. 

73. We have all within us an impetus to sin ; pro- 
nounce impetus with the accent on im, and not on pe, 
as is very often the case. 

74. He may go to the antipodes for what I care ; 
pronounce antipodes with the accent on tip, and let 
des rhyme with ease. It is a word of four syllables, 
and not of three, as many persons make it. 

75. Vouchsafe, a word seldom used, but, when 
used, the first syllable should rhyme with pouch. 
Never say, vousafe. 

76. Ginger is a good stomachic ; pronounce stom- 
achic with the accent on mach, sounding this syllable 
mak, and not mat, as is often the case. 

77. The land in those parts is very fertile ; pro- 
nounce fertile so as to rhyme with fill. The He in 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 103 

all words must be sounded ill, with the exception of 
exile, senile, gentile, reconcile, and camomile, in which 
He rhymes with mile. 

78. It is surprising the fatigue he undergoes ; say, 
The fatigue he undergoes is surprising. 

79. Benefited; often spelt benefitted, but incorrectly. 

80. Gather up the fragments ; pronounce gather so 
as to rhyme with lather, and not gether. 

81 . I propose going to town next week ; say, pur- 
pose. 

82. If I am not mistaken, you are in the wrong ; 
say, If I mistake not. 

83. Direct your letters to me at Mr. Jones's ; say, 
Address your letters. 

84. Wales is a very mountainious country ; say, 
mountainous, and place the accent on moun. 

85. Of two evils choose the least ; say, the less. 

86. Exaggerate ; pronounce exaggerate, and do 
not sound agger as in the word dagger, which is a 
very common mistake. 

87. He knows little or nothing of Latin; say, 
little, if anything, of Latin. 

88. He keeps a chaise; pronounce it shaise, and 
not shay. It has a regular plural, chaises. 

89. The drought lasted a long time ; pronounce 
drought so as to rhyme with snout, and not drowth. 

90. The man was hung last week ; say, hanged ; 
but say, I am fond of hung beef. Hang, to take away 
life by hanging, is a regular verb. 



104 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



91. We conversed together on the subject; leave 
out together, as it is implied in conversed, con being 
equivalent to with, that is to say, We talked with each 
other, &c. 

92. The affair was compromised ; pronounce com- 
promised in three syllables, and place the accent on 
com, sounding mised like prized. The word has noth- 
ing to do with promised. The noun compromise is 
accented like compromised, but mise must be pro- 
nounced mice. 

93. A steam-engine ; pronounce engine with en as 
in pen, and not like in, and gine like gin. 

94. Numbers were massacred ; pronounce massa- 
cred with the accent on mas, and red like erd, as if 
mas'saker'd, never mas'sacreed. 

95. The king of Israel and the king of Judah sat 
either of them on his throne ; say, each of them. 
Either signifies the one or the other, but not both. 
Each relates to two or more objects, and signifies both 
of the two, or every one of any number taken singly. 
Never say " either of the three," but " each or any 
one of the three." 

96. A respite was granted the convict ; pronounce 
respite with the accent on res, and sound pite as pit. 

97. He soon returned back. ; leave out back, which 
is implied by re in returned. 

98. The horizon is the line that terminates the 
view ; pronounce horizon with the accent on n, and 
not on ho. 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 



105 



99. She has sang remarkably wejl ; say, sung. 

100. He had sank before assistance arrived ; say, 
sunk. 

101. I have often swam across the Tyne ; say, 
swum. 

102. I found my friend better than I expected to 
have found him : say, to find him. 

103. I intended to have written a letter yesterday ; 
say, to write, as however long it now is since I thought 
of writing, " to write " was then present to me, and 
must still be considered as present when I bring back 
that time and the thoughts of it. 

104. His death shall be long regretted [from a 
notice of a death in a newspaper] ; say, will he long, 
&c. Shall and will are often confounded ; the fol- 
lowing rule, however, may be of use to the reader. 
Mere futurity is expressed by shall in the first person, 
and by will in the second and third ; the determina- 
tion of the speaker by will in the first, and shall in 
the second and third \ as, I will go to-morrow, I 
shall go to-morrow. N. B. The latter sentence 
simply expresses a future event ; the former expresses 
my determination. 

105. " Without the grammatical form of a word 
can be recognized at a glance, little progress can be 
made in reading the language " [from a very popular 
work on the study of the Latin language] ; say, Un- 
less the grammatical, &c. The use of without for 
unless is a very common mistake. 



106 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES. 

106. Have you begun substraction yet ? say, sub- 
traction. 

107. He claimed admission to the chiefest offices ; 
say, chief. Chief, right, supreme, correct, true, uni- 
versal, perfect, consummate, extreme, &c, imply the 
superlative degree without est or most. In language 
sublime or impassioned, however, the word perfect 
requires the superlative form to give it effect. A 
lover, enraptured with his mistress, would naturally 
call her the most 'perfect of her sex. 

108. The ship had sprang a leak ; say, sprung. 

109. I had rather do it now ; say, I would rather. 

1 10. He was served with a subpoena ; pronounce 
subpoena with the accent on pee, which you will sound 
like tea, and sound the b distinctly. Never pronounce 
the word soopee'na. 

111. I have not travelled this twenty years ; say, 
these twenty years. 

112. He is very much the gentleman; say, He is a 
very gentlemanly man, or felloio. 

113. The yellow part of an egg is very nourishing ; 
never pronounce yellow like tallow, which we so often 
hear. 

1 14. We are going to the zoological gardens ; pro- 
nounce zoological in five syllables, and place the 
accent on log in logical. Sound log like lodge, and 
the first two o's in distinct syllables. Never make 
zool one syllable. 

115. He always preaches extempore; pronounce 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 107 



extempore in four syllables, with the accent on tern, 
and never in three, making pore to rhyme with sore. 

116. ^Taught and aught ; never spell these words 
nought and ought. There is no such word as nought, 
and ought is a verb. 

117. Allow me to suggest ; pronounce sug so as to 
rhyme with m ug, k and gest like jest. Never sudjest. 

118. The Emperor of Russia is a formidable per- 
sonage : pronounce formidable with the accent on 
for, and not on mid, as is often the case. 

119. Before the words heir, herb, honest, honor, 
hostler, hour, humble, and humor, and their com- 
pounds, instead of the article a, we make use of 
an, as the h is not sounded ; likewise before words 
beginning with h that are not accented on the first 
syllable, such as heroic, historical, hypothesis, &c, as, 
an heroic action, an historical ivork, an hypothesis 
that can scarcely be allowed. N. B. The letter h is 
seldom mute at the beginning of a word ; but from 
the negligence of tutors and the inattention of pupils 
many persons have become almost incapable of ac- 
quiring its just and full pronunciation. It is, there- 
fore, incumbent on teachers to be particularly careful 
to inculcate a clear and distinct utterance of this 
sound. 

120. He was such an extravagant young man that 
he soon spent his whole patrimony ; say, so extrava- 
gant a young man. 



108 



MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



121. I saw the slough of a snake ; pronounce 
slough so as to rhyme with rough. 

122. She is quite the lady ; say, She is very lady- 
like in her demeanor. 

123. He is seldom or ever out of town ; say, seldom, 
if ever, out of town. 

124. Death unloosed his chains ; say, loosed his 
chains. 

125. It is dangerous to walk of a slippery morn- 
ing ; say, on a slippery morning. 

126. He who makes himself famous by his elo- 
quence, illustrates his origin, let it be never so mean ; 
say, ever so mean. 

127. His fame is acknowledged through Europe ; 
say, throughout Europe. 

128. The bank of the river is frequently overflown ; 
say, overflowed. 

129. Previous to my leaving England I called on 
his lordship ; say, previously to my leaving, &c. 

130. I doubt if this will ever reach you ; say, 
whether this, &c. 

131. He was exceeding kind to me ; say, exceed- 
ingly kind. 

132. I lost near twenty pounds ; say, nearly. 

133. Bills are requested to be paid quarterly ; say, 
It is requested that bills be paid quarterly. 

134. It was no use asking him any more questions ; 
say, of no use to ask him, &e. 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 109 

135. The Americans said they had no right to pay- 
taxes ; say, they were under no obligation to pay, &c. 

136. I throwed my box away, and neve^ took no 
more snuff ; say, I threw, &c, and took snuff no more. 

137. She was endowed with an exquisite taste for 
music ; say, endued with, &c. 

138. I intend to stop at home ; say, to stay. 

139. At this time I grew my own corn ; say, I 
raised, &c. 

140. He was no sooner departed than they expelled 
his officers ; say, he had no sooner, &c. 

141. He was now retired from public business ; 
say, had now retired, &c. 

142. They tuere embarked in a common cause ; 
say, had embarked, &c. 

143. Hostilities were now become habitual ; say, 
had now become. 

144. Brutus and Aruns killed one another ; say, 
each other. 

145. Pray, sir, who may you be ? say, who are you f 

146. Their character as a warlike people is much 
degenerated ; say, has much, &c. 

147. He is gone on an errand ; pronounce errand 
as it is written, and not arrant. 

148. In a popular work on arithmetic we find the 
following sum, — "If for 7s. 8c?. I can buy 9 lbs. of 
raisins, how much can I purchase for £56 16s. ? " 
say, " what quantity can I," &c. Who would think 
of saying " how much raisins % " 



110 



MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



149. Be very careful in distinguishing between 
indite and indict ; key and quay ; principle and prin- 
cipal ; check and cheque ; marshal and martial ; coun- 
sel and council ; counsellor and councillor ; fort and 
forte ; draft and draught ; place and plaice ; stake 
and steak ; satire and satyr ; stationery and station- 
ary ; ton and tun ; levy and levee ; foment and fer- 
ment ; fomentation and fermentation ; petition and 
partition ; practice and practise ; Francis and Fran- 
ces ; dose and doze ; diverse and divers ; device and 

* devise ; wary and weary; salary and celery; radish 
and reddish ; treble and triple ; broach and brooch ; 
ingenious and ingenuous ; prophesy and prophecy ; 
fondling and foundling ; lightning and lightening ; 
genus and genius ; desert and dessert ; currier and 
courier ; pillow and pillar ; executer and executor ; 
suit and smfe ; ridicule and reticule ; lineament and 
liniment ; track and £rac£ ; lickerish and licorice ; 
statute and statue ; ordinance and ordnance ; lease 
and ; recourse and resource ; straight and sfrm'l ; 
immerge and emerge ; style and sta'/e ; compliment and 
complement; bass and Sase; contagious and cow- 
tiguous ; eminent and imminent ; eruption and irrup- 
tion ; precedent and president ; relic and relict. 

150. I prefer radishes to cucumbers; pronounce 
radishes exactly as it is spelt, and not redishes, and 
the m in the first syllable of cucumber as inyweZ, and 
not as if the word were coiocumber. 



* IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. Ill 

151. Never pronounce barbarous and grievous, 
barbarious and grievious. 

152. The two last chapters are very interesting ; 
say, The last two, &c. 

153. The soil on these islands is so very thin, that 
little vegetation is produced upon them beside cocoa- 
nut trees ; say, with the exception of, &c. 

154. He restored it back to the owner ; leave out 
back. 

155. Here, there, where, are generally better than 
hither, thither, whither, with verbs of motion ; as, 
Come here, Go there. N. B. Hither, thither, and 
whither, which were formerly used, are now con- 
sidered stiff and inelegant. 

156. As far as 1 am able to judge, the book is well 
written ; say, So far as, &c. 

157. It is doubtful whether he will play fairly or 
no ; say, fairly or not. 

158. " The Pilgrim's Progress;" pronounce prog- 
ress, prog-ress, not pro-gress. 

159. He is a boy of a great spirit; pronounce 
spirit exactly as it is written, and never sperit. 

160. The camelopard is the tallest of known ani- 
mals ; pronounce camelopard with the accent on the 
second syllable. Never call it camel leopard, as is so 
often heard. 

161. He is very awkward; never say, awkard. 

162. He ran again me ; I stood again the wall ; 



112 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



instead of again, say against. Do it again the time I 
mentioned ; say, by the time, &c. 

163. I always act agreeable to my promise ; say, 
agreeably. 

164. The study of syntax should be previously to 
that of punctuation ; say, previous. 

165. No one should incur censure for being tender 
of their reputation ; say, of his reputation. 

166. They were all drownded; say, drowned. 

167. Jalap is of great service ; pronounce jalap 
exactly as it is written, never jollop. 

168. He is gone on a tour ; pronounce tour so as 
to rhyme with poor, never like tower. 

169. The rain is ceased ; say, has ceased. 

170. They laid their heads together, and formed 
their plan ; say, They held a consultation, &c. Laid 
their heads together savors of slang. 

171. The chimley wants sweeping ; say, chimney. 

172. I was walking towards home ; pronounce to- 
wards so as to rhyme with boards. Never say to 
wards. 

173. It is a stupenduous work ; say, stupendous. 

174. A courier is expected from Paris ; pronounce 
cou in courier so as to rhyme with too. Never pro- 
nounce courier like currier. 

175. Let each of us mind their own business ; say, 
his own business. , 

176. Is this or that the best road ? say, the better 
road. 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 113 



177. Rinse your mouth ; pronounce rinse as it is 
written, and never reuse. " Wrench your mouth" 
said a fashionable dentist one day to the author of this 
work. 

178. The book is not as well printed as it ought to 
be ; say, so well printed, &c. 

179. Webster's Dictionary is an admirable work ; 
pronounce dictionary as if written dilc-shun-a-ry ; not, 
as is too commonly the practice, dixonary. 

180. Some disaster has certainly befell him ; say, 
befallen. 

181. She is a pretty creature; never pronounce 
creature, creeter, as is often heard. 

182. We went to see the Monument; pronounce 
monument exactly as it is written, and not as many 
pronounce it, moniment. 

183. I am very wet, and must go and change my- 
self; say, change my clothes. 

184. He has had a good education ; never say, 
edication, which is often heard, nor edicate for edu- 
cate. 

185. He is much better than me ; say, than L 

186. You are stronger than him ; say, than he. 

187. I had as lief stand ; say, I would as soon 
stand. 

188. He is not a whit better ; say, in no degree 
better. 

189. They are at loggerheads ; say, at variance. 

8 



114 



MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



190. His character is undeniable, — a very common 
expression ; say, unexceptionable. 

191. Bring me the lantern; never spell lantern, 
lanthorn. 

192. The room is twelve foot long, and nine foot 
broad ; say, twelve feet, nine feet. 

193. He is singular, though regular in his habits, 
and also very particular ; beware of leaving out the 
u in singular, regular, and particular, which is a very 
common practice. 

194. They are detained at France ; say, in France. 

195. He lives at London ; say, in London, and be- 
ware of pronouncing London, as many careless per- 
sons do, Lunnun. At should be applied to small 
towns. 

196. No less than fifty persons were there ; say, 
No fewer, &c. 

197. Such another mistake, and we shall be ruined ; 
say, Another such mistake, &c. 

198. It is some distance from our house ; say, at 
some distance, &c. 

199. I shall call upon him ; say, on him. 

200. He is a Doctor of Medicine ; pronounce medi- 
cine in three syllables, never in two. 

201. They told me to enter in; leave out in, as it 
is implied in enter. 

202. His strength is amazing ; never say, strenth. 

203. "Mistaken souls, who dream of heaven," — 
this is the beginning of a popular hymn ; it should be, 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 115 

" Mistaking souls," &c. Mistaken wretch, for mis- 
taking wretch, is an apostrophe that occurs every- 
where among our poets, particularly those of the 
stage ; the most incorrigible of all, and the most 
likely to fix and disseminate an error of this kind. 

204. Give me both of those books ; leave out of. 

205. Whenever I try to write well, I always find I 
can do it ; leave out always, which is unnecessary. 

206. He plunged down into the stream ; leave out 
down. 

207. She is the matron ; say may -iron, and not 
mat-ron. 

208. Give me leave to tell you ; never say leaf for 
leave. 

209. The height is considerable ; pronounce height 
so as to rhyme with tight. Never hate nor heighth. 

210. Who has my scissors ? never call scissors, 
sithers. 

211. First of all I shall give you a lesson in French, 
and last of all in music ; leave out of all in both 
instances, as unnecessary. 

212. I shall have finished by the latter end of the 
week ; leave out latter, which is unnecessary. 

213. They sought him throughout the whole country ; 
leave out whole, which is implied in throughout. 

214. Iron sinks down in water ; leave out down. 

215. I own that I did not come soon enough; but 
because why ? I was detained ; leave out because* 



116 



MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



216. Have you seen the new pantomime? never 
say pantomine, as there is no such word. 

217. I cannot by no means allow it ; say, I can by 
no means, &c, or, I cannot by any means , &c. 

218. He covered it over ; leave out over. 

219. I bought a new pair of shoes ; say, a pair of 
new shoes. 

220. He combined together these facts; leave out 
together. 

221. My brother called on me, and we both took a 
walk ; leave out both, which is unnecessary. 

222. The duke discharged his duty ; sound the u 
in duke and duty like the word you, and carefully 
avoid saying, dook and dooty, or doo for dew. 

223. Genealogy, geography, and geometry are words 
of Greek derivation ; beware of saying, geneology, 
jography, and jometry, a very common practice. 

224. He made out the inventory ; place the accent 
in inventory on the syllable in, and never on ven. 

225. He deserves chastisement ; say, chas-tiz-ment t 
with the accent on chas, and never on Use. 

226. He threw the rind away ; never call rind, 
rine. 

.227. They contributed to his maintenance; pro- 
nounce maintenance with the accent on main, and 
never say, maintainance. 

228. She wears a silk gown ; never say, gownd. 

229. Sussex is a maritime county ; pronounce the 
last syllable of maritime so as to rhyme with rim. 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 117 

230. He hovered about the enemy ; pronounce 
hovered so as to rhyme with covered. 

231. He is a powerful ally ; never place the accent 
on al in ally, as many do. 

232. She bought a diamond necklace ; pronounce 
diamond in three syllables, never in two, which is a 
very common practice; 

233. He reads the "Weekly Despatch;" never 
spell the word despatch, dispatch. 

234. He said as how you was to do it ; say, he 
said that you were to do it. 

235. Never say, " / acquiesce with you ; " but, " I 
acquiesce in your proposal, in your opinion" &c. 

236. He is a distinguished antiquarian ; say, anti- 
quary. Antiquarian is an adjective ; antiquary, a 
noun. 

237. In Goldsmith's "History of England" we 
find the following extraordinary sentence in one of 
the chapters on the reign of Queen Elizabeth : — 
" This " [a communication to Mary, Queen of Scots] 
" they effected by conveying their letters to her^ by 
means of a brewer that supplied the family with ale, 
through a chink in the wall of her apartment.' 1 '' A 
queer brewer that, — to supply his ale through a chink 
in the wall ! How easy the alteration to make the 
passage clear ! " This they effected by conveying 
their letters to her through a chink in the wall of her 
apartment, by means of a brewer that supplied the 
family with ale." 



118 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES. 

238. Lavater wrote on Physiognomy ; in the last 
word sound the g distinctly, as g is always pronounced 
before n when it is not in the same syllable ; as, in- 
dignity, &c. 

239. She is a very clever girl ; pronounce girl as 
if written gerl ; never say gal, which is very vulgar. 

240. He built a large granary ; pronounce granary 
so as to rhyme with tannery, never call the word 
grainary. 

241. Beware of using Oh! and indiscriminately; 
Oh! is used to express the emotion of pain, sorrow, 
or surprise ; as, " Oh ! the exceeding grace of God, 
who loves his creatures so." is used to express 
wishing, exclamation, or a direct address to a person ; 
as, 

w mother, will the God above, 
Forgive my faults like thee ? " 

242. Some writers make a distinction between far- 
ther and further ; they are, in fact, the very same 
word. Further, however, is less used than farther, 
though it is the genuine form. 

243* He did it unbeknown to us ; say, unknown, &c. 

244. If I say " They retreated back" I use a word 
that is superfluous, as back is implied in the syllable 
re in retreated. Never place the accent on flu in 
superfluous, but always on^er. 

245. In reading Paley's " Evidences of Christi- 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING- CORRECTED. 119 

anity," I unexpectedly lit on the passage I wanted ; 
say, met with the passage, &c. 

246. He has ordered a phaeton from his coach- 
maker ; beware of saying, pheton or phaton. The 
word should always be pronounced in three syllables, 
with the accent on pha. N. B. In pha-e-ton the a 
and e do not form a diphthong, as many suppose ; the 
word is of Greek origin. 

247. Be careful to use the hyphen ( - ) correctly ; 
it joins compound words, and words broken by the 
ending of the line. The use of the hyphen will ap- 
pear more clearly from the following example : 
" many colored wings " means many wings, which 
are colored; but " many-colored wings " means " wings 
of many colors." 

248. He had to wait in an antechamber ; carefully 
avoid spelling the last word antichamber. N. B. An 
antechamber is the chamber that leads to the chief 
apartment. Ante is a Latin preposition, and means 
before, as, to antedate, that is, " to date beforehand." 
Anti is a Greek preposition, and means against, as, 
QXitimonarchical, that is, " against government by a 
single person." 

249. The axe was very sharp ; never spell axe 
without the e. 

250. The force of voice, which is placed on any 
particular word or words to distinguish the sense, is 
called emphasis, and those words are called emphatical 
words : as, " Grammar is a useful science." In this 



120 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



sentence the word useful is emphatical. The great 
importance of emphasis may be seen by the following 
example : 

1. Will you call on me to-morrow ? 
Yes, I shall [call]. 

2. Will you call on me to-morrow ? 
No, but I shall call on your brother. 

3. Will you call on me to-morrow ? 
No, but I shall on the following day. 

4. Will you call on me to-morrow ? 
No, but my brother will. 

251. Never say o fences for offences ; pison for 
poison ; co-lection for collection ; voiolent for violent ; 
Tziver for cover ; of ear d for afraid ; debbuty for deputy. 

252. He is a mere cipher ; never spell cipher with 
ay. 

253. I was necessitated to do it ; a vile expression, 
and often made worse by necessiated being used. 
Say, I was obliged, or compelled, to do it. 

254. Gibbon wrote the "Rise and Fall of the 
Roman Empire ; " pronounce rise, the noun, so as to 
rhyme with price ; rise, the verb, rhymes with prize. 

255. Have you been to the National Gallery ? 
Never pronounce national as if it were written nay- 
shun-al, a very common error, and by no means con- 
fined to uneducated persons. 

256. I bought a new umbrella; beware of pro- 
nouncing umbrella, umberella, or umbereller, both very 
common errors. 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 121 



257. He is a supporter of the government ; beware 
of omitting the n in the second syllable of govern- 
ment. A very common practiced 

258. He strenuously maintained the contrary ; never 
place the accent on the second syllable in contrary. 
In the ancient and time-honored ditty, however, of 

" Mistress Mary, 
Quite contrary, 
How does your garden grow ? " 

a ballad with which we are all more or less familiar, 
the word " contrary " is accented on the second syl- 
lable, so as to rhyme with the name of the venerable 
dame to whom these memorable lines were addressed. 

259. " Received this day of My. Brown, ten pounds ; " 
say, " Received this day from" &c. 

260. " In what case is the word dominus f " " In 
the nominative, sir." In the hurry of school pronun- 
ciation " nominative " is nearly always heard in three 
syllables, as if written n> mnative or nomative, an error 
that should be very carefully avoided ; it is a word of 
four syllables. 

261. Of whatever you get, endeavor to save some- 
thing ; and, with all your getting, get wisdom. Care- 
fully avoid saying git for get, and gitting for getting. 

262. So intent was he on the song he was singing, 
as he stood by the fire, that he did not perceive that 
his clothes were singeing. N. B. Verbs ending with 
a single e omit the e when the termination ing is 



122 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



added ; as, give, giving. In singeing, however, the e 
must be retained, to prevent its being confounded 
with singing. 

263. The boy had a swingeing for swinging with- 
out permission. Read the 'preceding note. 

264. The man who was dyeing said that his father 
was then dying. Read the note in No. 262, in refer- 
ence to dyeing ; and observe that die changes the i 
into y before the addition of the termination ing. 

265. His surname is Clifford ; never spell the sur 
in surname, sir, which shows an ignorance of its true 
derivation, which is from the Latin. 

266. In 44 Bell's Life in London," of Saturday, Jan. 
13th, of the current year [1855], there is a letter 
from a Scotchman to the editor on the subject of the 
declining salmon fisheries in Scotland. In one pas- 
sage the writer thus expresses himself : 44 The Duke 
of Sutherland has got almost no rent for these [salmon] 
rivers for the last four years," &c. The writer should 
have said, scarcely any rent. 44 Almost no rent " is a 
downright Scotticism. 

267. His mamma sent him to a preparatory school ; 
mamma is often written with one m only, which is 
not, as may at first be supposed, in imitation of the 
French [maman\, but in sheer ignorance. The word 
is pure Greek. 

268. Active verbs often take a neuter sense ; as, 
The house is building. Here is building is used in a 
neuter signification, because it has no object after it. 



IN SPEAKING- AND WRITING CORRECTED. 123 



By this rule are explained such sentences as, Appli- 
cation is wanting, The grammar is printing, &c. 

269. He attached me without the slightest provo- 
cation ; say, attached. 

270. I saw him somewheres in the city ; say, some- 
where. N. B. Nowheres, everyivheres, and anywheres 
are also very frequently heard. 

27 L He is still a bacheldor ; say, bachelor. 

272. His language was quite blasphemous ; beware 
of placing the accent on phe in blasphemous. A very 
common mistake. Place the accent on the syllable 
bias. 

273. I fear I shall discommode you ; say, incom- 
mode. 

274. I can do it equally as well as he ; leave out 
equally, which is altogether superfluous. 

275. We could not forbear from doing it ; leave 
out from, which is unnecessary. 

276. They accused him for neglecting his duty ; 
say, of neglecting, &c. 

277. He was made much on at Bath ; say, made 
much of, &c. 

278. He is a man on whom you can confide ; say, 
in whom, &c. 

279. Tm thinking he will soon arrive ; say, I 
think, &c. 

280. He was obliged to fly the country ; say, flee 
the country. A very common mistake. 



124 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



281. The snuffers wants mending; say, want 
mending. 

282. His conduct admits of no apology ; leave out 
of which is quite unnecessary. 

283. A gent has been here, inquiring for you, — a 
detestable, but very common, expression ; say, a 
gentleman, &c. 

284. That was all along of you ; say, That was all 
your fault. 

285. You have no call to be vexed with me ; say, 
no occasion, &c. 

286. I don't know nothing about it, — a very com- 
mon cockneyism ; leave out don't. 

287. I had rather not, should be, I would rather 
not. 

288. I had letter go, should be, It were letter that 
I should go. 

289. A new pair of gloves, should be, A pair of 
new gloves. 

290. He is a very rising man, should be, He is 
rising rapidly. 

291. Apartments to let, should be, Apartments to le 
let. 

292. No less than ten persons, should be, No fewer 
than ten persons. Less must be applied to quantity, 
as, No less than ten pounds. Fewer must be applied 
to things. 

293. I never speak, whenever I can help it, should 
be, I never speak when I can help it. 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 125 

294. Before I do that, I must first be paid, should 
be, Before I do that, I must be paid. 

295. To get over an illness, should be, To survive, 
or, To recover from an illness. 

296. To get over a person, should be, To persuade 
a person. 

297. To get over a fact, should be, To deny or 
refute it. 

298. The then Duke of Bedford, should be, The 
Duke of Bedford of that day, or, The sixth Duke of 
Bedford. 

299. The then Mrs. Howard, should be, The Mrs. 
Howard then living. 

300. A couple of pounds, should be, Two pounds. 
Couple implies union, as, A married couple. 

301. He speaks slow, should be, He speaks slowly. 

302. He is noways in fault, should be, He is nowise 
in fault. 

303. He is like to be, should be, He is likely to be. 

304. All over the land, should be, Over all the 
land. 

305. I am stout in comparison to you, should be, I 
am stout in comparison with you. 

306. At best, should be, At the best. 

307. At worst, should be, At the worst. 

308. The dinner was all eat up, should be, The 
dinner was all eaten. 

309. I eat heartily, should be, I ate heartily. 



126 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



310. As I take it, should be, As I see it, or under- 
stand it. 

311. I shall fall down, should be, I shall fall. 

312. It fell on the floor, should be, It fell to the 
floor. 

313. He again repeated it, should be, He repeated 

it. 

314. His conduct was approved of by all, should 
be, His conduct was approved by all. 

315. He was killed by a cannon ball, should be, 
He was killed with a cannon ball. The gun was 
fired by a man. 

316. Six weeks back, should be, Six weeks ago, or 
since. 

317. Every now and then, should be, Often, or 
Frequently. 

318. Who finds him in money ? should be, Who 
finds him money ? 

319. The first of all, should be, The first. 

320. The last of all, should be, The last. 

321. Be that as it will, should be, Be that as it may. 

322. My every hope, should be, All my hopes. 

323. Since when, should be, Since which time. 

324. He put it in his pocket, should be, He put it 
into his pocket. 

325. Since then, should be, Since that time. 

326. The latter end, should be, The end. 

327. I saw it in here, should be, I saw it here. 

328. That atfnt just, should be, That is not just. 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 127 

329. The hen is setting, should be, The hen is 
sitting. 

330. The wind sets, should be, The wind sits. 

331. To lift up, should be, To lift. 

332. I said so over again, should be, I repeated it. 

333. From here to there, should be, From this place 
to that. 

334. Nobody else but him, should be, Nobody but 
him. 

335. The balloon ascended up, should be, The bal- 
loon ascended. 

336. This two days, should be, These two days. 

337. Do you mean to come ? should be, Do you 
intend to come ? 

338. Each of them are, should be, Each of them 
is. Each means one and the other of two. 

339. Either of the three, should be, Any one of the 
three. Either means one or the other of two. 

340. Neither one or the other, should be, Neither 
one nor the other. Neither (not either) means not 
the one nor the other of two. 

341. Better nor that, should be, Better than that. 

342. Bad grammar, should be, Bad or ungram- 
matical English. 

343. As soon as ever, should be, As soon as. 

344. You will some day be sorry, should be, You 
will one day be sorry. 

345. From now, should be, From this time. 



128 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES 



346. Therefore, I thought it proper to write you, 
should be, Therefore, I think it proper to write to you. 

347. There's thirty, should be, There are' thirty. 

348. Subject matter, should be, The subject. 

349. A summer's morning, should be, A summer 
morning. 

350. My clothes have got too small, or too short, 
for me, should be, I have become too stout or too tall 
for my clothes. 

351. A most perfect poem, should be, A perfect 
poem. Perfect, supreme, complete, brief, full, empty, 
true, false, do not admit of comparison. 

352. Avoid using unmeaning or vulgar phrases in 
speaking, as, You don't say so ? Don't you know ? 
Don't you see ? You know ; You see ; So, you 
see, &c. 

353. Is Mr. Smith in? should be, Is Mr. Smith 
within ? 

354. The other one, should be, The other. 

355. Another one, should be, Another. 

356. I left this morning. Name the place left. 

357. Over head and ears, should be, Over head. 

358. I may perhaps, or probably, should be, I may. 

359. Whether he will or no, should be, Whether 
he will or not. 

360. Says I, should be, Said I, or, I said. 

361. He spoke contemptibly of him, should be, He 
spoke contemptuously of him. 

362. Was you ? should be, Were you ? 



IN SPEAKING AND WRITING CORRECTED. 129 



363. I am oftener well than ill, should be, I am 
more frequently well than ill. 

364. For good and all, should be, For ever. 

365. It is above a month since, should be, It is 
more than a month since. 

366. He is a superior man, should be, He is supe- 
rior to most men. 

367. He need not do it, should be, He needs not do 

it. 

368. Go over the bridge, should be, Go across the 
bridge. 

369. I was some distance from home, should be, I 
was at some distance from home. 

370. He belongs to the Mechanics' 1 Institution, should 
be, He is a member of the Mechanics'* Institution. 

371. For such another book, should be, For another 
such book. 

372. They mutually loved each other, should be, 
They loved each other. 

373. I ay'nt, should be, I am not. 

374. I am up to you, should be, I understand you. 

375. Bread has rose, should be, Bread has risen. 

376. He was in eminent danger, should be, He was 
in imminent danger. 

377. Take hold on, should be, Take hold of. 

378. Vegetables were plenty, should be, Vegetables 
were plentiful. 

379. Avoid all slang and vulgar words and phrases, 
as, Any how, Bating, Bran new, To blow up, Bother, 

9 



130 MISTAKES AND IMPROPRIETIES CORRECTED. 



Cut, Currying favor, Fork out, Half an eye, I am up 
to you, Kick up, Leastwise, Nowheres, Pell-mell, 
Scrape, The Scratch, Rum, Topsy-turvey, Walk into, 
Whatsomever. 

" Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar." — 
Shakespeare. 



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